Heartbeats of Hope

Crossroads of Life

2012-01-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
This story is about loyalty in the toughest of times. What do you do when everything seems to be lost? What Ruth decided to do was to stay with Naomi, the mother of her deceased husband. She could not leave her and she felt this deep sense of love and loyalty, even loyalty that overrides her own needs. She could have gone back to her old way of life, to her home town and sought a husband to have a new life. The choice was hers and yet here it was, she was to go ahead and to make sure that her husband’s mother was going to be taken care of. Naomi was in despair and without hope, as you can see in this chapter. Ruth decides to stay, minister to her mother in law and take care of her. This is the greatest story about loyalty and love. But, it is also a great story about how at times in our lives, when we come to a defining moment in our lives, which path do we choose. This is where the road splits into two, one path to the right and the other to the left. Which way do we go? The consequence of our choices will determine our entire lives. When we look at the spiritual side, Ruth would have gone back to the “other gods” of her homeland, but when she decided to go with Naomi, she decided to choose the one God, the God of Naomi. This was the defining moment in her life and her life will change forever. Defining moments come around quite infrequently. When they do, we need to seek guidance from the Lord and to which path to take. Regardless of how we would feel, which is the way the Lord wants us to go. It is not about satisfying ourselves and putting ourselves first, but it may mean a sacrifice at the time. We need to ask ourselves, “what is the right thing, the honorable thing, the thing that God wants me to do?”. For God knows the path He wants us to choose and he has our whole future decided upon from this. May we make those right decisions based on God’s Will for our lives and be like Ruth, who followed loyalty over self.
Question: Are you at the crossroads of your life and not sure which path to take?

Reverse the Curse

2012-01-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

"The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,[b] and to plunder the property of their enemies. The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies." Esther 8:11-13

As I was reading through the book of Esther, I got to Chapter 8 and realized something about God and His plans in our lives. What happened in Esther was that the King had issued a decree to kill all the Jews. Once this decree went out, it could not be cancelled - but there was a way around it. This was to issue another decree that stated that the Jews were ALLOWED to protect themselves against any attack and that they also were allowed to plunder the property of those that attacked them. This is really cool, for this decree, basically makes the first decree invalid. No one would attack a Jew, knowing that they had the right to fight back and claim all property. There always seems to be a way around an impossible task. God was in control of this whole situation from the beginning. The Jews didn’t see the whole picture but God had everything under control and He worked it out for His good. But what did it look like from the human perspective? It looked like the situation was impossible. What made the difference? FASTING AND PRAYER. Sometimes when we are in what we may think of as impossible situations, we need to remember that God always has a plan B. Who would have thought that the curse could be reversed? It seemed impossible that once an order was given, it could not be withdrawn. But there WAS another way. What kind is situation are you in today? Does it seem impossible? Is there no way out when you look at it with your human perception? Is it a job situation? Is it a failed marriage? Is it finances? We can be up against a wall and see no way out, but God has a way out and always has a way for the curse to be reversed. I am grateful to know that no matter what impossible situation I may face, God always has an alternate solution to the problem. We need to do our part by fasting and praying, then God does His part. We are in partnership with Him and He delights when we come to Him in prayer and lay all of our cares and worries at His feet and trust Him that He is going to get us through those tough times.
Question: Are you facing an impossible situation? Do you think there is no way out?

Accept or Reject

2012-01-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43

it is important to remember that there were three men on crosses that terrible day. There was Jesus and two other men that were guilty, and only Jesus was not guilty. So let us look at that scenario. Two men in the presence of Jesus in the midst of pain and suffering. They both had the same choice. They could either accept or reject Jesus. It is the same today, everyone is given that same choice, do you want eternal life or do you want eternal death. The choice is up to the individual. Jesus was there, he was present is their suffering and only one chose to acknowledge that Jesus was Lord and all he wanted was to be remembered in God’s Kingdom. Jesus saw his heart and told him that he would be with him in paradise. Good choice. Now the other man is a different story. It is a story of a man that was full of bitterness and resentment. Even at the end of his life, he choice to take that to the grave with him. Two men on a cross and two different decisions that would make a difference in where they would spend eternity. Do we want others to perish? Do we want to see those that have this gift of eternal life, die and not be able to spend eternity in paradise with Jesus? This is the good news that we need to carry out to others to let them know, it is a decision that will carry them into eternity.

Question: What can you do today, to share the Good News with others?

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

2011-12-23T12:37:00.000-08:00

"Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tellyou not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat orenough clothes to wear. For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or storefood in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him thanany birds! Can all your worries add a singlemoment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s theuse of worrying over bigger things?" Luke 12:22-26
“No worries” is an expression that we often hear! Or, “Don't Worry, BeHappy!” was a song by Bobby McFarrin that summed it up too. So easy to be said, but Jesus was the originator of this. Just as inLuke 12:22-26, Jesus tells us to not worry about things in life for what willit do for you? It does nothing for you. God provides everything that you need, so why even go thereto that place of worry? The verse that sums it all up is verse 25, “Can all your worriesadd a single moment to your life?” So true! Worrying gets you nowhere. I thinkof the people that are in Hospice right now and they would give everything they have to be in our shoes...they would be happy to take your worry right now and trade place with you. All those worries about getting the cookiesbaked, gifts wrapped, cards sent out, shopping done, finding parking places inmalls, the patients in Hospice would take it all for you because they have lost everything and they are now in the last moments of their life and all of those worries are meaningless. We need to be at that same place as them. What really matters?What is it that counts in our life right now? It is our relationship with Godand the relationships with others. As Jesus summed it up, we are to do twothings, LOVE GOD AND LOVE OTHERS. That is what is important. So, may I encourage you, to focus today on what is really important and get your priorities straight.May all of our eyes be on Jesus and celebrate the blessings that we have today.

Transition in Our Lives

2011-11-14T12:03:00.001-08:00

"Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." John 21:1-3

Can you imagine what Peter was feeling after the death of Jesus? Can you think about the difficulty it was to loose the “teacher” and beloved friend? They traveled, they were discipled, they ministered, they were all in a close relationship with Jesus and then came the day when Jesus was gone. Everything changed. Life was not the same anymore. Life had turned up side down. Now what? What do you do when life as you know, suddenly changes and you are forced with the "now what?" Well, what often happens, we may go back to the old and familiar way of doing things just like Peter, whom goes back to what he knows, the former life, the life of a fisherman. He goes to the default – fishing. That was the old life and with the transition of having this new life, he goes back to the old ways. We too can be like that. Our lives change. It may be the death of a spouse, moving to a new city, broken relationships, changing jobs – it could be any time in our lives when we are in transition. What would be the most common thing for us to do? It would be to want to go back to our old familiar ways. That is taking a step backward, to go to the “comfort zone” instead of moving ahead. It was a time for the disciples to not go back to their old life, as it was before Jesus. It was to move foreward in God’s Kingdom to another unknown but to move forward using all they learned with Jesus, then minister to others. It could be grief, it could be discouragement, it could be any of those emotions that could propel us to go backward to the “old ways”. We are to see these transitional times as opportunities to move forward into a new chapter of our lives. Let us build upon the old and not return to the foundation. Jesus had a better plan and that was like in Matthew 28 where he tells the disciples to “go” and to tell others the good news. Notice that Jesus did not tell them to go back to their old lives and live in complacency. That would mean that everything they learned and experienced was not to be used. It is like taking a class on how to use the Word Document on your computer and you know how to use it and apply it. Then as you finish the class, you go back to using a manual typewriter because it was familiar to you. This is a lesson we need to learn as it applies to our own lives. We are not to go back to our “old ways” and become complacient. We are to always move forward and keep doing God’s work, even when it is not familiar and we are in transitions of our lives. Let us not settle for the familiar but begin to always strive for newness and doing things built on our experiences with Jesus. In Hawaii, there is the saying, “Imua”, which means to “move forward”. That sums it up. We are to move forward and not go backward. Let’s learn this lesson from Peter.It was a good reminder for me today, not to stick to the old familiar ways, the old behavior patterns, the old mind sets and the comfortable way of doing things that were familiar. We are to take off those old comfortable shoes and put on new ones that may take awhile to wear in, but they are new and they are going to last. We need to always be improving and learning – so we can endure and finish the race! Imua!
Question: Are you in transition and want to go back to the "old and familiar"?

Wearing Peace

2011-11-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid." John 14:27

In Chapter 14 of John, Jesus begins to comfort his disciples when they realize that He is leaving and his words address the disciples' concerns and even fear. Jesus reassures them all that He is not going to abandon them, but when He leaves to be with the Father, that another is going to come and it is the Holy Spirit. He calls Him, the Advocate, and "The Advocate" gives us truth and guides as a counselor. When we get to Acts 2, we will see that at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit (The Advocate) comes upon the Disciples in power! But Jesus is reassuring them now, not to worry and not to be troubled or afraid. We too can become like that in our daily lives. We can get caught up in the troubles that may surround us, but it is the Holy Spirit that will guide, correct and will give us the most wonderful gift of all, Peace! Like in Ephesians, there is the full armor of God and the armor has the “shoes of peace”. No matter what situation we are in, we can be walking with those little pink fuzzy slippers of peace on our feet. If we are not in a state of peace at all times, then the enemy has stolen it! Yes, think about it, the joy of the Lord should be our standard operating system. If we are not in the state of joy, then the enemy has robbed us of our peace. This is what we call an oppression. I think of the earthquake victims in Haiti and when our mission team went there, the people that had nothing were still filled with the joy of the Lord. The missionaries reported of the most anointed worship sessions and people were praising God and singing love songs to God, even in the middle of their crisis. The enemy was not able to steal their peace! We should be the same, for that is the gift that Jesus left with us...perfect peace.
Question: Are you in a state of peace now? If not, what has stolen your peace?

Faith Requires Action

2011-10-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

"When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. " John 6:5-6

Oh, I just love this!! I can just picture this scene. Jesus is watching all this from the Father’s eyes and knows the answer even before the question comes about. The disciples are worried and trying to figure out in their human logic, how can they begin to feed all the people. They seek human solutions and have not opened their spiritual eyes. They have not begun to believe in Jesus, that He is the son of God, even after miracle upon miracle. Hello?! Don’t you guys get it yet? Jesus says that He came from Heaven and that God was His Father and yet, the disciples go back to the same old human thinking and reasoning. Jesus was testing them with a real life situation. They could say with their mouths that they believed, but unless they put their faith and belief into action, it really does not mean anything. (James 2:17) This is the same for us. We can say we have faith and trust in God but when the real life situation comes to test our faith, do we exercise our faith? When the medical tests show a negative report, can you walk in faith? When you get laid off a job and there is no work in sight, can you walk in faith? When your aging parent is slowly declining, can you walk in faith? This is where all that we have learned in scripture is now going to take a physical action and response from us. Now we have to walk it and not just talk it! Jesus tested the disciples in their faith and in the end, Jesus performed a miracle not with the purpose of feeding the multitude, but to point the way to God through himself. He was the Messiah, the son of God. I am grateful for this verse today for it is about not just knowing about scripture and God’s promises, but it is about when the rubber meets the road, how are we all going to do? Will we actually put our faith into action? We are to give Jesus what we have and then He will provide the miracle. It starts with us - we do our part and He will do his.
Question: Is your faith being tested? How can you walk in faith through this challenge?

Jesus Transforms

2011-10-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

"Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” When the jars had been filled, he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions. When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” This miraculous sign at Cana in Galilee was the first time Jesus revealed his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:9-11)

The entire chapter of John 2, had so many things that I could write about but as I sat here and meditated on some of the details of the first miracle of Jesus, it became really clear to me that there was a deeper significance of the changing of the water to wine. Let me begin with a scripture from 2 Corinthians 4:7. It says:

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

Our bodies are considered, “clay jars”. We are like those water pots in John 2. But what I know of these waters jars is that the Jewish ceremonial washing was to take dirty hands and to wash them in these jars as a purification and cleansing. So think about that jar! The jar has dirt and filth from the many washings. Get a picture of this when you think of washing your hands after being outside in the yard and then washing over and over again in the same filled sink. Ugh! So we know that these water jars were filthy and people would NEVER drink water from those jars. Not only that, the water that was poured into the jars, probably was not drinking water from the well, but household water for cleaning. So you get the picture now...really nasty water in really dirty jars. Gee, we are like those jars. Before we were born again - before salvation, we were like those filthy jars and then the miracle that happened, was Jesus pouring into us and changing us from the inside out. We have now gone from filthy water to the best of wine! We are transformed by Jesus! So the image I got this morning was deeper than just the first miracle of Jesus, it was symbolic of the ministry of Messiah, it was the transformation of our lives into being vessels to hold the living water. It is done only though Christ Jesus himself, son of God!! Boy, was that an eye opener for me today!
Question: What condition is your fragile clay jar today?

Taking Every Thought Captive

2011-10-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

I teach in the Prayer 101 classes, this very concept when it comes to Spiritual Warfare. We come against the schemes of the enemy and his plans to “steal, kill and destroy” our identity in Christ and to steal our faith. It would drive you crazy if you had to try to hold back every single thought you have and try to take it captive. So what is it saying here? What thoughts do we take captive? When we find ourselves in spiritual warfare, that is the time we are called to action, to begin to identify our thoughts, match them up against God’s Word and to cast out those thoughts that do not line up with God’s Word. Let me give you an example. You are in a meeting and you represent a project that you had spent time, energy and it is your best effort. At the meeting, all the other projects are being discussed and your project is not. Everyone there is lifting up and praising the other projects with the exception of yours. The discussion ends and they go on to another topic, and your project was never mentioned. Now, you begin to feel offended. This is where it starts. Feeling insecure and unworthy the thoughts, “see, you didn’t do a good job”, “you are not important”, “everyone is better than you”. Are you getting a picture of the thoughts and lies that the enemy is influencing you to think. This is spiritual warfare! You can begin to believe the lie and accept the sadness, rejection, insecurity and unworthiness that the enemy is enticing you to believe OR you can stop and recognize these thoughts as coming from the enemy and TAKE THOSE THOUGHTS CAPTIVE. How do you do that? You tell your thoughts, “STOP”, those are lies and I will not believe them. Because they did not mention my project does not define who I am nor does it say that my project was not acceptable. You stop that thinking, you begin to refocus on truth of who you are as defined in God’s Word. I am HIS masterpiece, I am the apple of His eye, He delights in me, He sings over me, I am a Child of God...”. Taking thoughts captive is to stop the negative thinking and replace them with God’s Word and with affirmations of who you are. We choose to not be offended for it is by accepting lies about who we are that we can become oppressed by the enemy. The best way to always come against principalities and strongholds is to use God’s Word to see the truth and be set free from lies of the enemy. It will become more automatic as time goes by, to renounce the emotions/lies and to redirect our thoughts to God’s Word and to thoughts that line up with it.
Question: What lies have you been believing that you need to renounce and take the thought captive?

Purification Process

2011-10-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

"With promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let's make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. Let's make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Becoming pure is the topic for today. It is like a water purification system. When there are elements in the water that can be harmful to us physically, we can use a water purification system to take out all the impurities of our water before we drink the water. Isn’t this exactly what Paul was writing about to the Church of Corinth? What he had to do was to be honest and have to correct the members of the church. If you have never been corrected, then you have been spared a painful, but necessary process. What may happen, is that well-meaning people start to get off tract and away from biblical practices and they believe they are doing things the right way – but they are NOT. One with spiritual maturity or one that is in authority over the person, sees that a correction needs to be made. Correction is not pleasant, and it is often painful. I have been corrected by those in authority over me and it does not feel good but it was the necessary growing process that I needed. The intent of correction is NOT to make you feel badly. It is to help us grow and get us back on the right tract and to make us more “pure”. We are humbled, repentant and begin to change in our ways. It is that purification process – like the water purification system. God’s Word does that same thing. We read the Logos (written word) and the Holy Spirit teaches, guides and corrects us (rhema). We are convicted of our actions, deeds, words and the course correction or purification begins to take place. We now can remove the pollutant from our lives and we can begin to become more like Christ. This process is called “sanctification”. It is going from one level of learning to another and always be filtered through God’s Word and becoming more pure, through correcting our behaviors, actions, deeds and words to become more like Christ. This process is life long and we continue to keep working on being filtered everyday and staying in His Word. Honestly, I don’t know what I would do if I was NOT in God’s Word everyday. I learn more and more about how God wants me to live this life He has given me. I am to be obedient and when I get corrected, I am to thank Him and know that it is that purification system that is taking out all the pollutants from my life.
Question: Are you reading God's Word daily as a purification process?

Choose Your Perspective

2011-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

I bet that you are looking at the image above and wondering, "What does that dual-view screen have to do with our bible verses today?" but it is an important visual that will reinforce the concept of our perception of situations. One day, I received this visual revelation from the Lord and I have shared it many times in my teachings on spiritual warfare. You will see that there is one screen in the center and there are two screens on either side of the center screen. The middle screen represents a situation and/or event in our lives. That seems pretty simple, right? Things happen to us all the time, but I am talking about an EVENT, one that has an emotion attached to it. Let’s say, a co-worker comes to you and tells you that the project you worked on for months and have just submitted to the boss for approval, that it does not seem to fit the standard of the company and it will not be approved. Now, here is where the dual screen comes in to play. We have two ways to perceive this event (middle screen). We can see it through the world and the image that the enemy has created (left screen). This screen would show discouragement, despair, self-doubt, insecurity and the list goes on. Now, what is playing on the other screen? This is the perception from God’s Word (right screen). It is everything that God tells us who we are and what is truth according to the Heavenly Kingdom. This would be that of success and the perception that God inspired the project and through us during our best, it WILL be approved by the boss and he will see it as wonderful and just what he wants. So, we always have two choices of which screen to watch. Do we want to filter the world through the eyes of the Lord or the eyes of the enemy? It is your choice! You do not need to not get offended or hurt in situations but you are to focus your perception on God’s Word and what He would say about the situation. Just as it says in verse 18, we can fix our gaze on troubles OR we can fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen, that is God’s Kingdom and truth. Here is what we do according to God’s Word and it is to begin to take your “thoughts captive” and we focus our thoughts on:

"Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." (Philippians 4:8 NLT)

We can choose which screen to watch, it is your choice! Once you begin to watch the movie that the enemy has scripted just for you, you begin to watch it, continue to focus on it and then your mind gets on a “roll” and all you can do is play that movie over and over again in your mind. Begin to realize today that we have our free will to say “no”, I will not watch the screen that was created by the enemy and begin to look through the perception of God’s eyes, through His Word and through the thoughts that are “excellent and worthy”.
I have used this example over and over again to minister to others about God’s perspective vs. Enemy’s perspective. We need to always remember which screen we want to watch. It is a choice we make daily.
Question: In the situation you are in today, which screen are you viewing?

God Never Wastes a Hurt

2011-10-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Why do we have to go through those tough times in life? The Apostle Paul writes to the church of Corinth his thoughts about the tough times and challenges that face us. When we find ourselves in the midst of trouble and strife we know that we can look to the Lord and He is the one that will provide comfort. It does not say that God takes it away, it says that our Father “comforts us in all our troubles”. What was written in the same verse is the “why”. We often go through these struggles because we then can comfort others. I remember hearing that “God never wastes a hurt”. Often we go through those tough times because we will be so equipped to minister to others. I have so often ministered to others and when I share, “I have been there also”, helps them know that I understand what it is like to be in their shoes because I too have shared the same struggle. It is so often that God will give us the ministry of the area in which we have struggled the most. If you are a cancer survivor, guess where God is going to have you minister? If you have gone through a rough divorce, guess where God is going to have you minister? Yes, the toughest times that God got you through, that is YOUR ministry area. God is our comfort and the way to get through those tough and dark times. We can go into those dark places to find hurting people and take their hands and walk them through their pain. There is always a God purpose in healings and it is to point the way to Him. May we be the ones to point the way and to show others the way to light, life and salvation. He is the great Healer and He will do the same to others as He did for us.My job is to always point the way for others. As God has rescued me from the pit and a lifetime of hurts, He too can use me to now, show others that there is a God that will comfort one through life’s difficult trials. God will get others through the tough times, just as He got me through them too.
Question: Can you identify the past hurts in your life and begin to see that God had you go through that, so you can guide and comfort others?

The Heat of Temptation

2011-10-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

" So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." 1 Cor. 10:12-13

Certainly we have all been tempted. Temptation comes from the enemy. Once I heard a person say that God was tempting them, and there seems to be no biblical base to say that God tempts, but he "allows" temptation to come you way to see how you stand up to it. What God will use challenges in our lives to see how we respond and how obedient we are to His Word. The enemy is the one that tempts us to fall. Oh yes, we have that carrot dangled in front of us, the Holy Spirt is telling us “don’t go there”. The enemy is on the the other side saying, "go ahead, no one will know" or other justifications to fall into sin. There is that moment in time where we are to make that choice. Which way do we go. Do we give in to the flesh, the desire, the want...or do we use the fruit of the spirit (self control) to be able to withstand the temptation? It is our choice. Do we feed our fleshly desires or do we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and follow His Way, the Truth and the Life? What I like about these two verses, is that God tells us that He will “provide a way out” so we can ENDURE. Notice that it does not say that God will remove it...but we are to ENDURE IT. I heard a wonderful example of this. God never gives us anything that is too hard for what we can “bear”. It is like an iron. On the iron you have many settings. Each setting is selected for the specific material type. So when you have linen, you put the iron setting on linen. If you have a synthetic setting, you put the iron on that setting. Why? Because if you use a higher setting than the material requires, it will burn. Well, that is like the temptation and challenges that come our way. God will only press into us, like the iron, just the proper setting. We will receive the heat at the right setting. Hot? Yes, but it will NOT burn! God knows just how much we can endure, but endure we must. So this scripture is so true when you look at the iron example. We will NOT be given more than what we can bear. Isn’t that reassuring? God knows our settings and He will only use what we need to straighten out the fabric in our lives!
Question: Have you found yourself in an area of temptation and had to go through the process of ironing to get out the wrinkles of your life?

Embroidery Behind

2011-10-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”-Isaiah 55:8,9

As I read this scripture, I saw a vision of an embroidery piece. From the top, you see the beautiful stitching and how every stitch has a pattern and is connected to make a design for us to see. But what do you see from below? You see a tangle of thread, knots, unrelated threads tangled with others. It is chaotic...well that is what we see. God sees it from the top. His pattern is different from what we see. We see it from the bottom. So true of life, we may see tangles and twisted knots but God see the ultimate and beautiful hand crafted design — designed by the master craftsman himself. When we are going through challenges in life, we should think of the embroidery design from the top and not from behind so that we can begin to realize that God's plan is bigger than our plan. Often times, we don't understand why things are going the way they are. That is why faith comes in to play a big part of this plan. We need to trust, that God has the perfect plan for our lives, even if we cannot see it ourselves. Bottom line here, God has everything under control, we just need to trust in His perfect plan for our lives.
Question: Are you seeing your life through the perspective of the embroidery design from below?

Night Watch

2011-09-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

Come, bless God, all you servants of God!

You priests of God, posted to the nightwatch

in God's shrine,

Lift your praising hands to the Holy Place,

and bless God.

In turn, may God of Zion bless you—

God who made heaven and earth! (The Message - Psalm 134)

What stood out to me was the words “Night Watch”. I know that there are specific times during the day and night that are set aside for prayer. One of the prayer shifts is called the Night Watch. That is approximately from 12 midnight to 6am. As I read more from IHOP (International House of Prayer), they have prayer shifts for all the time periods. What is interesting, was that the Night Watch is used to “ praise God”. This is so in line with God’s Word and that this shift is set aside for praising God. Here is what is said on the website according to IHOP on “Night Watch”

“Our cities are filled with sin, especially during the night hours when these deeds of darkness are meant to be hidden. The IHOP–KC NightWatch takes a stand, knowing that the night belongs to the Lord. Worship and prayer through the night hours keeps the fire of adoration burning to change the spiritual atmosphere over our cities. And the small schedule change is worth having this kind of eternal impact.”

This reinforces the concept that praise is a form of warfare! We can worship and praise as a means to spiritual warfare but mostly to glorify God. IHOP also used Psalm 134 as their scriptural base for the praise during this watch. Doesn’t this give you a new perspective on praying during the night. I often wake up at night with songs going through my head. Now I know why...I thought it kind of weird, but it now connects and make a whole lot of sense. I am to praise and worship Him when I am awoken at night...this is a night watch concept. I am grateful for what I learned today about praising during the night watch. There is a great spiritual significance when praising during the night watch and I should never take it for granted.

Question: Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with a worship song on your heart? Sing it through to bring light into the darkness in the Night Watch.

He Surrounds Us

2011-08-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Those who trust in the Lord are as secure as Mount Zion;
they will not be defeated but will endure forever.
Just as the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forever.Ps 125
So true, there ARE mountains that surround Jerusalem. Just this morning, I was praying for a young man for protection and I saw huge wings covering him. So I felt it was Psalm 91:4 where we are protected by God's wings as a shelter and I sensed he was “under His wings”. But then, I read this morning and realized it was not wings, it was being “surrounded” by protection and then I saw the hills around Jerusalem and went, WOW, that’s it!! Not only are we protected by God's covering but we are surrounded by the protection also. We too are like that, to keep the image in our minds, that our God surrounds us and how very secure we are!! We will not defeated by the enemy, but we have the Lord surrounding us and what a praise to come from our lips. I will not only remember that His wings protect and cover me but He is like the mountains that surround Jerusalem...because His Word is His Promise to me that He surround me.

Chains of Oppression

2011-08-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness,
   prisoners suffering in iron chains, because they rebelled against God’s commands
   and despised the plans of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor;
   they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
   and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness,
   and broke away their chains. Psalm 107:10-14

As I read about “prisoners in iron chains”, I thought about chain gangs that were chained to each other in iron shackles, and they were required to do hard labor on the railway tracks. Not only were they chained but their tasks were back breaking and laborous.We too can be prisoners in chains and not even realize it. We can be chained to burdens that are not ours but are for God to deal with. The chains can be made of something called “unforgiveness” which hold us to spirits of resentment, bitterness, anger, rage and even hate. What chains do is they bind and restrict our movements. Isn’t that what sin does in our lives, it prevents us from having a wonderful spirit filled and free life? Like in Isaiah 61, the prisoners (captives) are freed from their captivity. We can be prisoners and have invisible chains on us and not even realize it. We need to be set free from those chains that are binding us to sin. How do we get free? We begin to spend time in prayer and ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts and make us free from all those sins that are tying us down. We need to forgive those that have hurt us and have caused us pain. Secondly, we need to realize that we have a loving God that will free us, but all we have to do is ask. Ask God to remove those chains of oppression right now, today and not to let any time go or you will be a slave to sin and be like those prisoners on the chain gang – bound and enslaved.
“Create in me a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
Question: Are you bound in chains and need to be set free? Are you willing to forgive and be released as a prisoner of sin?

Sing a New Song

2011-08-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

1 Sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Turn to the Lord in prayer and receive a new song in your life! Oh YES!! It is never too late to have a “new song” in your life. You can stop at this very second and ask God to lift you up and create in you a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within you! You can begin to release everything that you are holding on to and allow God to renew and restore you. When you have been restored, you can begin to sing a new song, a new verse to come from your life and your life can be very different from where it was going a second ago. I think of a recent prayer session with a lady that had believed so many lies about herself and in an instant, she saw Jesus in her life and how He erased all those lies and showed her that she was a precious diamond to God. She was transformed in a second and she had a new song. We had her take a prophetic step forward, leaving everything behind and to start anew, afresh with a new song in her life. You too can have a new song in your life, anytime you decide to go to God in prayer. Take off the old clothes and to put on the new clothes of righteousness and walk in God’s anointing and blessings that are awaiting us all...this second...in prayer!
Question: Would you like to be restored, renewed and to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that your life will have a new song?

Make Life Count

2011-07-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (NIV) Psalm 90:12

"Number our days"? What is that all about?! I searched the web and found out from different translations, that to number our days means to make the most out of what time God has given us!! It is about us using our time wisely, through the wisdom that only God can give us through His Word. Really, life is short and there will be a day when it comes to an end. We all have a a time/date when our lives will be over. It may come sooner than we expect. I remember when I was teaching, our pre school teacher had found a little bird on the ground, a small gray sparrow. It had not developed his feathers yet and it must have fallen from his nest. I named him “Charlie”. I took him home and hand fed him for days. I would put him to bed in a sweatshirt and he grew and thrived. He started getting his feathers and he started flapping his wings to gain strength, but he still was not able to fly. I remember so clearly one night, I put Charlie to bed after I fed him. I turned off the light and then had gone into the livingroom. Charlie was chirping and I would respond by talking to him from the other room. Then I heard a noise, like a “thud” coming from the bedroom where Charlie was. When I went in to look for him, his bed was empty. I called all around the house and went from room to room. “Where are you Charlie?”. Then I went to the bathroom where the light was on, and I gazed in horror, there was Charlie lying on the floor. I picked him up and his neck was broken and his body was lifeless. I realized that he had flown from his bed to find me and got confused and crashed into the mirror door of the bathroom!! I sat on the floor crying, and asking God, why? He was so young and he was just starting to fly. This was when the Lord told me that life is short. We never know when it is our time or the time of our friends or family, when it will end. The scripture I read today, reminded me of Charlie and how life is short. We never know when it may end, so we make the most of what we have. Charlie was loved and he had a good life, even though it was very short. We too can make the most out of our lives and do what we can to tell others about Christ. We don’t know how long people have on this life, but we need to see how many people that we can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they too, can have eternal life. Life is precious and I never want to take life for granted. I want to "number my days", make every day I have important for Jesus. I want to have meaning and that when my time comes, I will know that I did my best to share Jesus with others.

We Are His Sheep

2011-07-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

3 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
we will proclaim your praise. Psalm 79:13
I have done studies and read books about sheep and it never ceases to amaze me when I get to scripture and God’s people are considered, “sheep”. I went to visit a friend’s farm where she had sheep. She wanted me to experience them and to be around them. It was amazing, and what happened was that she stood in the center of the field and called out, “come, come, come”. We waited and then all of a sudden, we saw these little heads peek out from the bushes and hidden areas and they all came running. It was so adorable! This, I remembered, was like scripture, when we hear the Shepherd’s voice and we come running. How they love to come when called. After the sheep came, they just hung out with us and they didn’t want to leave us. They were there with us and didn’t leave the spot. When we find Jesus, we too don’t want to leave His presence and we want to hang out and be around Him at all times. We can wander away, just as the sheep. My friend would notice one that had wandered too far away and she would call the sheep by name. Oh yes, she had given each one a name and they knew their names. When called, that one that wandered away, could come back. We, yes indeed, are God’s sheep. As I recall all that happened that day at the sheep farm, may I remember that I too am a sheep in the pasture. I am part of God’s flock and He knows me by name!

Question: Have you wandered away from His pasture and He is calling your name?

God's Love

2011-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.

May your glory shine over all the earth. Psalm 57: 10-11

This morning’s topic is on God’s love. God's love is limitless, cannot be measured and never ends, for God IS love. In scripture, God's love is defined:

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8

Now, let us begin to digest in our minds what that truly means. We read in scripture the Greek words for the various forms of love as "eros", "phileo" and "agape" love. When we think about these types of love, we realize that God is all of them and more. God IS love. We need to begin to realize that God IS love and that we cannot begin to put a limit on His love and when we do this, we will start to know how blessed and loved we really are. I thought of the highest mountain on the planet Earth and my thoughts went to that of Mount Everest in Nepal. Here is some information that may amaze you:

Facts About Mt. Everest:

Tallest mountain in the world.
Number of people to attempt to climb Mt. Everest: approximately 4,000.
Number of people to successfully climb Mt. Everest: 660.
Number of people who have died trying to climb Mt. Everest: 142.
Height: 29,028 feet, or 5 and a half miles above sea level. This is equivalent to the size of almost 20 Empire State Buildings.
Location: part of the Himalaya mountain range; straddles border of Nepal and Tibet.
Named for: Sir George Everest, a British surveyor-general of India.
Age: approximately 60 million years old.
Other names: called "Chomolungma" by Tibetans and Sherpas, which means "Mother Goddess of the Earth."
Countries visible from the summit: Tibet, India, and Nepal.
First to climb to summit: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.

Now that you have wrapped your brain around this information, I want you to realize that in only our human measurements and that God’s love is “as high as the Heavens”. How high are the Heavens? It is not measurable, for the universe goes on and on and on! Now, when we think of the Heavenly universe as having no end, it is limitless - then we can just begin to understand the love that God has for us. Are you with me? Can you truly understand how treasured we are? We are so beautiful in His sight and we are those treasures that He delights in. Think of a time when you went to the beach and began looking in the sand, and as you sifted all the sand between your fingers, you find those hidden treasures of small shells, bits of polished glass pieces and how you delighted on finding those amist the sand. I think that is how God looks at us, with such pleasure and He cherishes us so! It humbles me this morning to know that He looks down and smiles, sings and delights over us. We are ALL his treasures! He calls us His sons and daughters, but more than than, He sees us as the Princes and Princesses in His Kingdom. What a honor, what a blessing, what love that God has for us. After all, He IS love and His love not only cannot be measured but it is “unfailing”. It never stops!! Although we stumble, fall or just do something stupid, His love never stops. He loves us so!! May I always remember that God’s love is limitless and it is unfailing. God’s IS love and no matter where I go, whatever I do, He is with me, loving and delighting in me. He is doing the same for you – today and everyday of your life!
Question: Are you sensing God's love today?

Clean Laundry

2011-06-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

"Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life." (Psalm 51:7) The MSG

(Written by Jade Akita - Visiting Blogger)
When I was a child, my grandma showed me how to wash out those tough stains from our clothes. She had a wooden board that had ridges on them. When you had to wash the laundry, you would scrub the article of clothing on the ridges with soap. When the stains were "stubborn", you had to work that piece of clothing on those ridges and really scrub at it. Nowadays we have the good old washing machine. In the washing machine there is an agitator which pulses the clothes in order to clean it. However if you have a stain on your clothes, more than likely the stain will still be there when it comes out of the wash, but the article of clothing will be clean and it will smell fresh. You see, in this Psalm, we are to soak in the laundry of God. We are to soak in God's Word. Although we may pray and ask God to make us clean, to make us pure and holy to do His work, all we are really doing is agitating the "dirty laundry", but the stains are still there. We must really have at the stains...allowing God to take control and to get to the root of our stains, working those stains out so that our hearts may be truly cleansed by the blood of Jesus. We all can learn that, God is the only one who can wash us clean and make us pure. We must cleanse ourselves daily!
Question: What do you need to wash out of your life?

Creation

2011-06-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

Apapane - Native Hawaiian Bird

for every animal of the forest is mine,
and the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird in the mountains,
and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you,
for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Psalm 50:10-12

There is a bird here in Hawaii called the Apapane. These birds live in the high mountainous regions and they are not yet on the endangered list but, they are few in numbers. They are known for their magnificent red feathers and the males are known for having a variety of songs. These birds were used to make feather cloaks, leis and other adornments in the ancient days of Hawaii. The birds dwell in the canopy of the forest and never dwell at the forest floor. They are only one the many species of birds that God created. Can you even begin to wrap your mind around the variety of birds in existence? There are about 9,703 species of birds divided up into 23 orders, 142 families and 2.057 in general. Birds can be found on all major land masses from the poles to the tropics as well as in or over all our seas and oceans and their accompanying islands. The total number of birds on the planet is very difficult to estimate because their populations fluctuate seasonally, but scientists have suggested that there may be between 100,000 and 200,000 million adult or near adult birds on the planet at any one time. Now, does that now give you just one small glimpse of what God can do when it comes to creation? Now this is only birds! We are one of those creations and we are his masterpiece! He created everything else for us to be in charge of, to manage and I believe to enjoy. We are to have a spirit of awe in His creations. We also need to see that He is the creator and everything in this world, He made! It brings me to my knees this morning, as to the splendor that He has created and how much I appreciate what He has done! He is amazing! I fall on my knees in joy, love and appreciation of God, the Creator. He owns everything and everything is His! I want to sit in this spirit of appreciation and just thank Him – not for what He does...but who He is!
Question: Can you get into the spirit of appreciation for creation, right now?

Going Down

2011-06-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

"I waited patiently for the Lord,

he turned to me and heard my cry,

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

and gave me a firm place to stand. "

Psalm 40:1-2

This Psalm begins with the scene of a person in a “pit”. It is like those old movies where we saw people being pulled down by quicksand. I remember seeing movies about quicksand and how people could easily be sucked into the muck and mire. All they need to do is to walk into the mud and there it is, they get caught and then they begin to sink. They are trapped. We too can venture into that muddy place in life. We can begin to entertain those thoughts of despair, discouragement and depression. I just prayed for a lady yesterday and this is where the lady was, she was stuck in the quick sand and in a pit. We needed to deliver her from those demonic spirits that had pulled her into that sinking sand. She felt so much better after the deliverance prayer, but she had to renounce those lies, lies that she was not worthy, that she will never get out and that there was no hope for her. Those are lies from the pit of hell. What does God’s Word say? There is hope, there is always light and love. We don't need to sink into that quicksand and believe the lies of the enemy. We need to keep our feet on the solid ground and know that the promises in God’s Word, is the foundation for which we stand. When we begin to doubt, then we sink into the quicksand of despair. We need to watch for those signs...”beware of quicksand” and avoid those areas. We do this by acknowledging when we begin to entertin those thoughts and as soon as we begin to have the emotions of despair, discouragement, depression, fear....we renounce it and begin to praise God and speak His scripures (power verses) out loud. That is the weapon that will come against the enemy...the sword of truth! May we fight the spiritual battle with the promises from God’s Word. No pit dwelling for me!! I will be on guard for those “signs” and to not go there in my mind so that I will not begin to sink. I also will tell others about the trap of the enemy, that wants us to agree with him and begin to sink into that pit of despair.

Question: Are you in a pit and need to get out? Have you believed lies from the enemy and need truth?

Pray for Our Nation

2011-05-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him." Psalm 91:14-15

I was watching the news a few nights ago and I gasped when I heard about the disaster in Joplin Missouri. I saw the pictures of the homes that were destroyed and not only was everything destroyed but there was a great loss of life! There are deadly tornados that are currently sweeping across our land. As I google this morning, I see there are tornado alerts that have been posted for northern Vermont, Northern California and more in Missouri! Now is the time for all of us to get down on our knees in prayer and ask our Lord for the protection of our nation. May the Lord protect our land and our people! May the Lord also bring comfort, support and provide for everyone that has lost their homes, belongings and loved ones. We can only ask the Lord to bring His light into the darkness and to bring hope and love to those that have suffered these great losses in their lives. There is light and there is hope that Jesus can bring to all situations. Just as in Jeremiah 29:11 states. We may not understand the "why" but we do know in God's Word that He promises, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." God is our rock and our foundation in those times of need. Grab ahold of Him and His promises, like a life preserver in the rough seas of life. God will bring the peace that only He can give. Will you all join me right now, to pray a prayer of protection for our nation from any future natural disasters and to bring comfort and provision to those that have been affected by these disasters.

Question: Can you give a few minutes out of your day to join me in praying for our nation?

Storms

2011-05-24T13:11:00.000-07:00

"God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge." Psalm 46:1-3

When I saw this image, I had to gasp! Look at the man that is standing at the door and the waves are crashing around him. I wanted to know more about this one picture so I had to google the topic. What I came up with was a series of pictures of this situation. What really happened? This man was waiting to be rescued and a helicopter was hovering above. The man had come out to check on the helicopter and a huge monster wave began to engulf him. What happened? Did he live or die? The series of photos from U-Tube showed that the wave closed in on him but on the very last frame, he closed the door and retreated to the safety inside the lighthuse. He was saved. I think about the storms in life that may come against us and it may seem impossible to ever survive. We have a God that says that all we have to do is knock on the door and the door will be opened. That is exactly what we need to do, and that is to run to the safety of the Lord and shut the door. May you find comfort in the Lord today, amidst the storms of life.

Question: Have you ever felt like this man on the lighthouse and the seas are closing in on you? If you are in this spot today, seek the Lord with all you heart and you will find the one that is our refuge and strength in times of need.

Reference: "Oceans Fury Unleashed"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fapXUqagiFQ

Heavenly Perspective

2011-05-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

"LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;

you make my lot secure. " Psalm 16:5

In this chapter of Psalm, we get to the first verses and it is the prayer that highlights the basis of our faith.

" I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.” Psalm 16:2

Foundational to our faith is trusting in God for everything. I often pray with people in the Prayer & Healing Ministry because they have lost their focus. They seem to “drift” away from the one focus that is the most important in their life, their priority, the numero uno...that is God. If we don’t have God in our lives, what do we have? We really don’t have anything. Once we get back to that thinking, that He alone is enough, that He is all we need, then our Heavenly perspective begins to return. Then there is a mindset shift that happens and the "focus" returns. God then, becomes our “portion and cup”. That analogy is really good, for when you think of a cup, it can only be filled with a certain amount of fluid. He IS our cup, He is the one that fills us up with just the right amount of liquid (portion). That is so amazing, to think that God gives each and every one of us a cup and the exact amount to be filled. Should we compare cups? Should be be looking at how much others have? No, we are to focus on our own cups, the blessing of being filled with just what He wants us filled with and enjoy that blessing.His Word today was so inspirational to me. It helps me to reflect that the Lord is all I need and that He gives me exactly what I need – nothing more, nothing less. He is the one that gives my portion and for that, I celebrate.
Question: Are you in need of a shift in your focus today?

Refiner's Fire

2011-05-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

And the words of the LORD are flawless,

like silver purified in a crucible,

like gold refined seven times. Psalm 12:6

As I read Psalm 12 this morning, I had time to reflect upon verse 6 and the “refining fire”. There are many scriptures that refer to this refining process in God’s Word. It is always about the hot fire that burns away impurities in our lives that seems to develop our character. It takes heat to burn away the impurities in our lives, which means that there will be pain, suffering and discomfort. In other words, there is a price to pay and we should expect the uncomfortable in this process. If we want to be more like Christ in our life journey, then we need to be willing to pay the price that is required. When we want to be refined, we need to know that there will be fire and when we are going through that process, we must learn to endure. There are so many scriptures that support us enduring these times and one is to consider it "pure joy when we are going through the suffering". Do we enjoy the suffering, no way! But to get to the end result, to the pure silver that comes from the refining process, it is worth it in the end. The hardest part is to see that when we are suffering, we are in the refining process and when it is done, we have been perfected by the Father’s fire. Some may endure the suffering better than others and others may get discouraged, feel defeated or want to give up. It is my opinion, that when we are in the period of refinement, we need to always keep our eyes on the final result of this process. What may help us get through these times is to know that God will NEVER give us anything that is too hard for us to bear. He will allow just enough fire, just enough pressure, just enough pain for us to go through in order to skim off the impurities. What is important, is to go through the examine process when the silver has cooled. When the refining process is over, we are to look back and see, “how did I endure?” or “how can I do it better when I am being refined”. This is a process that will help us analyze how we reacted to this process so that the little trips that the enemy tried to throw in there, can be avoided next time. I think about a situation that I just went through and I felt discouraged and I needed to cry it out. I cried, felt badly and began to feel the sadness creeping up on me. I realized that I needed to let it go, not dwell on it and begin to take my thoughts captive. I could not change the situation but I could control my reactions. So I choose to not sit in my pity party and get up and go out and get a bite to eat. I choose not to allow the enemy to steal my peace. For that, I learned a great lesson, when I am in the refining process and learning how to deal with disappointment in my life, I can choose how I respond and then the Lord is purging out all the impurities. These impurities were the emotions of discouragement that was invading my thoughts. I had to get out of it and distract my mind. Now, a day later, I look back and ask, “how could I have done that better?”. God had me go through this for a purpose and I needed to review how I did and know how I can do it better next time, when I am under the refining fire of God. I need to stand in truth through God’s Word as the water that quenches the fire! I am grateful for the analogy today of the refiner’s fire in Psalm 12 and how the Lord will use situations in my life to build my character and to get me to respond to life’s challenges better. I need to pick myself up and see how God has used the disappointments in life to build my character.

Question: Have you been under the refiner's fire lately? How did you do?

The Empty Tomb

2011-04-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

"Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdaline came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance." John 20:1

Last night, I went to a play called "The Witness", which was a musical production of the life and death of Jesus. How powerful to see actors recreate the story of Jesus. At the end of the production, there was the empty tomb and then there was a light that came from the tomb and Jesus walked out. Everyone in the audience shouted with joy and clapped their hands. What excitement we all shared, and that was the end of the play. But then the actor that played Simon Peter exclaimed, "This is not the end, but just the beginning". Oh yes, the empty tomb was the beginning and not the end, for now the door is open and it starts the beginning of a new journey for many. The empty tomb not only signifies victory over death, but it signifies new beginnings. Just as Mary Magdalene had a new beginning in her own life, we too have the promise of the "Empty Tomb". The Empty Tomb is the open door for many of us to leave the place of death and walk into life. Look carefully at the perspective of the picture above. We usually think of an empty tomb from the perspective of standing on the outside looking in. If we were doing that, we would be standing in our current life and we could only see a dark and empty place of death. But stand where Jesus stood from INSIDE the tomb. Here we are, living in this world, in the place of death. But we do have hope and since the stone was rolled away and now we can look outside to the place of life and there is hope. If we die to ourselves and accept the free gift of eternal life that only Jesus can give us, then we will be able to see the magnificence and the promise of eternal life. What a difference it makes as to where to stand in life. Are you standing outside the tomb and looking in? Or are you inside the tomb and looking out? Let us tell as many people as we can today, that Easter is all about the promise that the empty tomb brings. The tomb is empty because there is life through Jesus!

God's Promise:" For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him."(John 3:16-17)

A Father's Love

2011-04-18T13:15:00.000-07:00

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”Luke 15:31-32

This parable of the lost son, is such a touching story. It is about a son that has taken the wrong path in life and then when he hit rock bottom, he realized what he had done. He realized that it was not about the riches of this world but it was about finding out what was really important in life. He was lost in the world of pleasure and excitement – and at the end of the parable, he returned to the loving safety of His Father’s House and received the father's unconditional love. Isn’t that also the other story behind this, is that we may have once been lost children, living away from the Father and sometimes we had to hit rock bottom before we see the truth and return to the Father. Once we may have been dead in the Spirit and then we are born again and are alive in the Spirit. We were lost and now we are found. At first, the story began to speak to me about a wayward child that returned back to his home and was reunited with his father. Then I began to realize there was a bigger story that Jesus was trying to tell us. That was about the lost children, those that are not saved and that these "lost" can also return to the Father’s love and to a promise of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We may not have to hit rock bottom, but we may be living in the world and seeking the pleasures that the world gives us. This is so far away from the Father! I was once on that same path and when my eyes were opened as I returned to church and there I found the Father that I had wandered away from and I knew I needed to come home. I found the Father’s love, the love that did not condemn but that accepted me just the way I was and I was cleaned up like the Prodigal Son and was accepted back as His Child. I was lost and then was found...I was dead and now alive in Christ. Let us celebrate this Easter season for many of the lost children to be returned to the Father’s home. May those that were lost, be found...those that are in the world, they turn and run back to the Father’s loving arms!! No matter if you are saved or unsaved, we can all learn something from this parable, we can turn from our own ways and return to the Father. Make that course correction today! He is waiting for you with open arms.
Question: Have you wandered away from the Father's love and need to return?

Solitude

2011-04-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Before they call I will answer;

while they are still speaking I will hear." Isaiah 64:25

Have you ever been thinking of something and someone you are near to, says the exact same thing you were just thinking? It is like they are reading your mind. Well, the same goes for Isaiah 65:24 when the verse says that the Lord will answer before we call and when we are speaking God will hear. How does this happen? It is about knowing God intimately and Him knowing our hearts and what are our needs, even before we speak. Scripture says that God knows us intimately, even as to how many hairs are on our head! God knew us when He created us in our mother’s womb. He knows every tear, every dream, every hurt, every single part of us. What God desires from us is intimacy. From the creation of man, God walked and talked with his Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God still wants to have that relationship with Him today. We can draw near to Him and He will draw near to us. We can expect Him to already know our prayers even before we speak, if we are in an intimate relationship with Him. Our communication is so intimate that we can call him, Abba (Daddy) Father. He is Dad. Sometimes we can just sit in silence and be with Him in solitude prayer. It is about being in His presence, and we can just enjoy that time with Him. The more we spend with him, the more we want to be with Him. Seeking God daily is an encounter. Everyone can experience God if we choose to find a place where we can be quiet and get away from the busyness of life. Jesus would often get away to pray after ministering to others and he modeled this for us for prayer in solitude.

Question: Can you find 10 minutes a day to find some solitude to encounter God?

Pray for Japan

2011-03-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

"When they call on me, I will answer, I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them" Psalm 91:15

Oh, how my heart aches for the nation of Japan. We saw the photos and videos of the tsunami and how it destroyed property and lives! Now, in the news we are hearing that radiation may be leaking into the atmosphere from the damaged nuclear power plants. It is a time for us to be on our knees, praying for Japan and the people of Japan. We need to stand in the gap by interceding in prayer. This situation makes me think about how precious is the gift of life. We could be going along in life, enjoying all the idle activities (facebook, shopping, movies etc) and there can come a disaster with little or no warning. Look at what is happening today around the nation! We cannot take life for granted! There is NO guarantee of a tomorrow and we need to live life today, for there may not be a tomorrow. The people in Japan, that lived in the scenic fishing village, Minamisanriku, never knew that on March 10th, the town would be wiped off the map by a powerful tsunami, generated by a 9.0 earthquake. From this earthquake disaster, more than 10,000 were either killed or missing, and this all happened within a day. We need to be on alert spiritually, and not be wishy-washy in our faith. We need to be even more vigilant and in prayer for all that is happening around us. Bottom line, are we in relationship with the Lord and living everyday a Spirit-Filled life? What if there is no tomorrow for us? Are we spiritually prepared? Take an assessment of your life today. Most of all, I ask that we join, united in prayer, for the people and nation of Japan. Let us not limit our prayers only to Japan, but to all nations! Pray in earnest for comfort, safety, healing and the love of Christ to surround each and every nation. May we be united in prayer! May God’s mighty hand be upon us all!

Question: How is your spiritual walk today? Will you join us in praying for the nations?

Toxic Living

2011-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

" Tremble, you women of ease;

throw off your complacency.

Strip off your pretty clothes,

and put on burlap to show your grief.

Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms

and your fruitful grapevines.

For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.

Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.

The palace and the city will be deserted,

and busy towns will be empty.

Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze

in the empty forts and watchtowers

until at last the Spirit is poured out

on us from heaven." Isaiah 31:11-15
Watch out for complacency for it is like mold growing in your home and it becomes toxic living.I want to comment on this particular word, and that word is “complacency”. I think of how mold grows in homes. It starts out with a small spot and if the area is not treated, it spreads and become larger. Just as in the photo, look at what happened to the mold growth in this home!! Our spiritual lives can be the same way, we can be complacent and take life for granted. We may attend church on weekends, attend mini church and even do our daily devotions. But is that enough to keep the mold away from our homes? No, I believe that it comes down to the heart and how the heart can become hardened (like mold) if we do not spend time in prayer and confessing our sins to the Father and asking forgiveness. Our hearts can become like that moldy home and when we get to the point of having the mold take over, it almost seems like it is too late. What we need is daily cleansing of our homes through prayer. We need to rest in the arms of the Father or we may begin to get offended by others or have our thought life start to have mold grow. Unless we can go to the Father daily, staying in His Word, we cannot prevent the mold growth. Watch out, for without you even knowing, you too can have a home that is contaminated with toxic growth. Just as these verses say, we can get so far away from the Father that the only way to be restored is a good dose of the Holy Spirit. Going to the Father daily is a way of cleansing and restoring the house. It is not an option, but part of maintaining the home through a good power wash from the Holy Spirit and through a heart wash of forgiveness.
Question: Are you living a life of complacency? Do you need some mold removal?

Watchmen on the Wall

2011-02-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

" Meanwhile, the Lord said to me,“Put a watchman on the city wall.

Let him shout out what he sees. He should look for chariots

drawn by pairs of horses, and for riders on donkeys and camels.

Let the watchman be fully alert.” Then the watchman called out,

“Day after day I have stood on the watchtower, my lord.

Night after night I have remained at my post. Now at last—look!

Here comes a man in a chariot with a pair of horses!”

Then the watchman said, “Babylon is fallen, fallen!

All the idols of Babylon lie broken on the ground!”

my people, threshed and winnowed,

I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said,

everything the God of Israel has told me." Isaiah 26:6-10

The Watchmen on the wall is what I believe that all prayer intercessors are called to do. It is a call to watch and a call to alert other prayer warriors that there is something that needs to be prayed for through the Word of God – the Sword! Also check out Ezekiel 33:3 about the watchmen. Even in Nehemiah, there were posted watchmen on the walls to watch for the invading army. When someone sees the enemy approaching, they sound the alarm and all those workers would lay down their tools and get armed. This is the battle cry that not only intercessors need to do but us as individuals. We are to watch for the lion that prowls to steal, kill and destroy. I just taught Spiritual Warfare at another church and one of the things we are to look out for is deception and lies of the enemy. We are to guard ourselves from getting blindsided with attacks from the enemy. We are to be on guard and watch for those areas in our lives where we are sensitive (triggers) and to not buy into the lies of the enemy. Often we have hurts from the past where we have not seen how the enemy has given us a lie and we take the lie on as part of us and be believe the lies. Lies about who we are in Christ. We are His masterpiece and unfortunately, the enemy tells us different through events or people in our lives. So we are to watch for those attacks that the enemy will throw at us. It can be friends, family, coworkers, ministry partners or other people in our lives that will say something and we will get “offended”. We have two choices at this point, to either buy into the emotional hurt or not to. It is our choice. When we choose to be offended then we have just allowed the enemy to take control and we have taken the “hit” of offense. We are to be watchmen and to guard our hearts. How do we do this? We do this with the Word of God to know the truth about who we are and truth in all circumstances. We are fighting a spiritual battle and it is in our minds! That is why we stand on guard as watchmen to see when the enemy is prowling. Isaiah 21 is a good reminder for me me today to watch those triggers and not to buy into lies or offense that is trying to bait me. I am to stay in God’s Word and His truth at all times. Measure everything by God’s Word!!
Question: Have you been offended lately by others? Are you willing to forgive and to be set free?

Ending a 21-Day Daniel Fast

2011-02-06T10:52:00.000-08:00

Today is the ending of our 21-Day fast. What can I expect? What do I do now after I have been on a Daniel fast for 21 days? I found some helpful suggestions. Let us consider these things:

Many men and women will complete their 21-day Daniel Fast over the weekend. And so I wanted to post some advice about ending your fast. Even if you are not concluding your fast, please keep this information in mind. It is important.

Ease back into your “typical diet.” This is especially true with caffeine, sugar, fatty foods, meat and dairy products. Small portions are wise and go slow, perhaps just one or two foods per day.
For caffeine beverages, drink one small cup or glass and then see how your body reacts. Don’t be surprised if you get the “jitters.” Consider starting with de-caf (I realize that’s almost criminal for those of us who love the java).
Don’t be surprised if you feel tired after you start eating the “typical foods.” Your body has been detoxed over the 21-day Daniel Fast and it might scoff at what it has to digest!
Continue to drink lots of filtered water, at least 1/2 gallon a day.

Also, consider the lessons you’ve learned and the good habits you’ve adopted on the Daniel Fast. Don’t leave them behind, but let them become a regular part of your life. This includes your prayer and study time with the Lord as well as improved eating habits.

Finally, while you may always fast at the New Year, consider fasting at other times of the year. Many parents pray and then fast from dawn to dusk on their children’s birthdays. If you have pressing issues or circumstances facing you, consider a time of consecrated prayer and fasting. Last year I fasted during Pentecost seeking the Lord’s direction for some personal business matters.

It has been a fruitful time in the past 21-days. There are many stories that I have heard of kairos moments and divine interventions. Although you are no longer on the fast, you can still keep pressing into this deeper relationship with God. Congratulations to you all that were on this journey with us.

Questions: If you fasted, what have you learned? Are there any new habits you have formed that you will be keeping?

Inner Beauty

2011-02-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

16 The LORD says, “The women of Zion are haughty,

walking along with outstretched necks,

flirting with their eyes,

strutting along with swaying hips,

with ornaments jingling on their ankles. 17 Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;

the LORD will make their scalps bald.”

18 In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, 19 the earrings and bracelets and veils, 20 the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, 21 the signet rings and nose rings, 22 the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses 23 and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls." Isaiah 3:16-22

Wow! These scriptures talk about “haughty” women that adorn themselves with purses, jewelery and they strut their stuff! They are all about themselves. It was the downfall of Israel and Jerusalem. It is no different today, when we see the media glorify the “rich and famous” with their fashions and beauty. They are held up as idols to us and the media stresses that we are to strive to be like them. We are to strive to be beautiful, skinny, popular and dressed with the latest of fashion. But God’s Word speaks of the inner beauty of a woman. It is not about the outward appearances but the inner beauty that God is pleased with. In the Last Days, God is also looking at those inner qualities in His people. He is not pleased with all the adornments and focus on the outside package. God is pleased with our hearts. I know that I am to focus on the inside cultivation of God’s spiritual fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control) and not focus on the outside qualities of the world. Let’s not get caught up with the latest of fashion, wanting the best brands and begin to shift our focus to inward qualities than outward.

Question: Do you measure your worth by your outside appearance?How do you measure up with Gods Word and His standards?

Refining Fire

2011-01-31T16:45:00.000-08:00

Lin Lopes "Refiner's Fire" - SouthAfricanArtists.com

"The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire." Isaiah 4:4

Fasting and Praying is like the refining fire that will bring the impurities to the surface and makes the impurities within us, available to be removed by the healing hands of God!. So, here we are, in the final stretch of the 21-day fast. There is something that is happening to not only me, but many people in our church. Just from this last weekend, there was a huge increase of people coming for prayer. There seems to be the purging of iniquities that is happening during the fast. I think of it as we make more room for God in our lives, then some of junk in our trunk begins to surface and it has to be dealt with. Fasting and praying is like that refining fire that comes down and purifies us. Just as in Isaiah 4:4, the cleansing comes from the spirit by judgment and fire. I am hearing more and more stories of people that are becoming aware of junk in their lives and they are getting rid of these old behavior patterns, mind sets, offenses and even oppressions. As we deny our flesh for God, He brings the impurities up to the surface as in the purification of silver/gold and then His hand skims the surface of all the dross and we become refined as gold/silver. This process is not pretty, for we often have to face some ugly truths about ourselves, like pride, self reliance, jealousy, rejection, unforgiveness and so many other impurities. But the beautiful thing is that the impurities that are brought to the surface are to be skimmed off by God’s wonderful healing hands to make us more refined and pure like Jesus. The heat is not pleasant but it is necessary for the refinement process. Therefore, let us rejoice when these issues come up for God is revealing them so He can take them away. I am grateful for this refining fire that falls upon us when we fast and pray for it is not only for a physical cleansing of our bodies but a spiritual cleansing. May all those impurities come to the surface and be removed by His mighty hands of healing.
Question: Have you been having issues come to the surface during this fast? Can you identify them and then repent and give them to God?

White as Snow - Forgive and Forget

2011-01-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”
   says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet,
   they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson,
   they shall be like wool. " Isaiah 1:8
During this time of fasting and praying, we are to focus on being renewed and becoming new in our spiritual journeys. It is the awakening of our spirits within and drawing closer to God. As in Luke 5:37-39, we need new wineskins for the new wine. Am I doing the same old thing in my life? Am I beginning to be poured into by the Holy Spirit into a new relationship with God? Am I starting with a new beginning and new routine? I started a new devotional this morning in the book of Isaiah and what I read, really was in line with the new wineskin analogy. I look at what was happening in Isaiah 1 and I am aware of what was going on in this time frame. This is when the kings of that day were evil in the sight of the Lord. These kings had forgotten God and began to offer sacrifices to other idols and their eyes were set on evil practices. These were God’s chosen people and they turned their back on God. They did as they pleased. God used the Prophet Isaiah to give the words to nations of Judah and Israel to turn from their evil ways and turn back to God. God was giving them a second chance. We have a God of second chances. He gave us His son to die on the cross for us, and with that, it paid the price for us (atonement) and we can now have a relationship with the Father and can go to Him and ask the forgiveness of sins. This means that no matter what our sin, even if it be like “scarlet” ,that God will forgive us and make us as white as snow. It is like the illustration I got when I was in an individual prayer session. As I was explaining to the person,"it it like our sins are written on a sheet of paper and after we ask for forgiveness, God takes that sheet of paper off our notebooks of life, crumples it up and throws it away. Then He gives us a brand new, clean white sheet of paper to begin life anew. (We are new creations in Christ, where the old is gone and the new is here)The in sin in our life is being cleaned and turned from scarlet to white like snow. God forgets all our sins and we move on. We need to forget that old sheet of paper with our sins, because we as humans want to dig that paper out of the wastebasket but God has already thrown it away. What is gone is gone – as far as the East is to the West. (Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.) Forgetting the past and pressing on to the new is part of the journey of having new wineskins.
Question: Is there any sin that God has forgiven and you are still holding on to? Can you give it to God and become white as snow?

Praying God's Will

2011-01-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15
As I enter into day 8 of the 21-day fast, I am noticing some changes in me physically. As I went through the liquid fasting yesterday, my body began to get rid of the toxins that had been stored up in my body! I have not been thinking of food, but kept pressing forward to hear His voice. Not only is my body getting rid of the physical toxins, but there are spiritual toxins that are being removed! Just as the refining fire purifies silver and makes the dross come to the surface, this is also happening in my life. The more that I press into fasting and prayer, God seems to refine me more and more! I pray and sit in His presence and He ministers to me. He gives me words of encouragement, He shows me direction, He shows me how to pray and for whom I should pray. This is what this scripture tells me today, it is about knowing the Father’s heart and praying His Will. It is not prayers that I have authored, or what I call “controlling prayers”. Controlling prayers are when I want God to accomplish something for me and the prayers not to be in His Will. I want to always be in His Will and to know how to direct His prayers so I can best accomplish His work here on Earth. His Will be done and not mine!! As I heard John Bevere speak last week, he said that God’s Voice shows us how to pray and that we are His "second voice" when we express it in prayer. When we pray His Will, God is so very proud of us to be able to speak His heart. What a beautiful communion between God and His children. Beth Moore writes that there is power when we pray scripture. It is like taking two sticks of dynamite and tying them together to get an explosion in the Heavenlies. We tie scripture to prayer and we get a spiritual explosion! If we pray scripture, we know that we are praying God’s Word. Doesn’t this just give you a whole new perspective on prayer today? I am so grateful, to tears, this morning for this Word. I not only got so much from yesterday and hearing that God IS love and that He loves us first, but when we do come to Him in prayer, then we come in the presence of God and we can be His second voice to pray His Will. I will share this word this weekend as I begin my Prayer Series class at another church on Saturday. May God anoint my words and guide me, according to His Will!

Question: Are you praying God's Will or your will?

God's Love

2011-01-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

"We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first." 1 John 4:19
This morning, I started "something new" on my 21-Day fast and today begins the first day for “liquids only”. I begin to think of the possibilities of what the day will hold for me and how the Lord can begin to unfold many words, phrases, confirmations, words of knowledge, scriptures and kairos moments. I sit quietly this morning with worship playing on my iPod and my Spirit is responding to His call. So funny, that clarity hit me and I realized that, God has always been there for me and I did not respond to His call. It is like this picture, He was always there with his love and all He wanted me to do was to reach for Him and to love Him back. You see, in devotions this morning, what jumped out on the page to me, is that God LOVED ME FIRST!! I didn’t have to do anything, He just watched, called, loved me and all I had to do is to go to Him and begin to open my own heart and to love Him back. God not only loved me first, but God IS love. God is perfect love and it is nothing I can earn, it is always there. It is a mind-set for me, to truly understand that HE LOVES ME. I had to stop, think and process this deeply like drinking it in. It is the love that the Father gives me that fills me up, day after day, but I need to go to the source in prayer and worship in order to have the relationship with Him. I was reading a book that Aimee Semple McPherson wrote and she said that the connection between God and us is like the electric wires on the poles and if there is a break anywhere along the line, there is no connection. Am I in connection with Him? Am I spending the quality time with Him? This fast has shown me that being in His presence is the place where I WANT to be. I love to sit, pray, love and be in His presence. It is not just a Sunday church relationship but a relationship that goes on all day long!! God loved me first and as I sense His love, I respond and love Him back with my whole heart! Love is so powerful and to know that God loved me first is amazing!! God is my everything and may I never get so far away from Him in the future that the wires of connection are broken. I want to keep that love flowing in my life, forever!
Question: Are you connected to the Father's love? What do you need to do to re-connect?

Kairos Moment

2011-01-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

   A Kairos moment is a God ordained moment where God speaks, gives a a revelation, an inspiration or encouragement. It is different than chronos time which is our time frame in the physical realm. It is when God intersects peoples lives for His purpose is a Kairos moment!
  I want to share a Kairos moment with you. Since I am on a Daniel Fast for 21 days with my church (Hope Chapel West Oahu) I have been seeking God and waiting to hear His voice. What happened to me yesterday, showed me that God can use me anywhere, anytime and I don't need to do anything in my own efforts.
   So here I was, having lunch with a friend, at a well known health food deli and I was sharing about my calling to do volunteer work at St. Francis Hospice. I shared how I would drive by St. Francis on the highway, I would hear “you belong there” and I would say “yes” but for about two years, I did nothing. I was like Jonah, running from Ninevah! I would hear "you belong there" and then I would store it in my brain, then I would keep on driving. Then, as I read Miles McPherson’s book, “Do Something”, where he said that we need to stop thinking about doing something and start to put these callings to action, did I finally take that step. I got my application on line, submitted it and then I got called to go for my interview. When I went for the interview with the volunteer coordinator, I received THE confirmation. During the interview, the coordinator shared with me about a new program where they needed more volunteers and it was the “NODA” program. "What is that?", I asked. She responded, "NODA is 'No One Dies Alone' ". When she said that, I knew, deep in my spirit that this was the place I needed to be and confirmation settled in my spirit. It was confirmed that this was where God wanted me to be. So, as If finished my story to my friend, we both heard behind us, “Excuse me”. We looked behind us and there was a young girl in her 20’s and she began sharing. “ I didn’t mean to over hear your conversation but I needed to share with you that I too have been hearing a calling and I have not acted upon it. After hearing about “doing something” I am going to do what God is calling me to do.” With that, she smiled, turned and walked away. My friend and I looked at each other, and tears flowed. God used us and we didn’t even need to do anything. God had our lives intersect with a young girl in a powerful Kairos moment, that was to launch into her into her calling, and He used us in a health food store over lunch!
   As I keep moving forward in this 21 day fasting period, I am asking God everyday to speak to me, to use me, to share with me more and more of His heart. I carry around a "fasting journal" and I write a word, a sentence, an experience that I sense God is telling me. They may not all be Kairos moments, but they may appear as a unique thought, an inspirational idea, for all of those may be God inspired and as I pray them through for confirmation, God reveals to me more and more.
Question: Do you desire to hear from God more? Are you willing to deny your flesh in fasting, so that there is less of you and more of him? Consider fasting and praying today.

Lioness Arise

2011-01-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

" But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1 Peter 2:9 This verse tells me that we all need to know our identity in Christ and to start walking in that confidence!
Tomorrow, we have the Arise Women’s Conference at Hope Chapel West Oahu and we are to hear Lisa Bevere speak. She wrote a book about the Lioness Arising. It is about women rising up and being the lioness in the Kingdom. We are not the tame little kittens like this picture, but we are the daughters of the King, we are royal priests, we are all chosen people, a “special posession”. We are to always look at ourselves as God sees us and act that way!! We are not to have a spirit of intimidation, but we are to take our rightful place and walk as who we really are. The world may have tried to define us as less, as something that we are not – but we know that according to God’s Word, He is the one that defines us. Who are we? We are the apple of His eye, His masterpiece, created in His likeness and we are royal priests and daughters of the King!! We should not look at ourselves as kittens anymore – but as lioness arising! Once we know our identity, then we are to walk in the confidence that His Word give us. Once we get this, then we can walk as a lioness and not a timid kitten for His Kingdom. We are to be all that He has created us to be. We must always remember who we are in Christ and never settle for anything less!!
Question: How are you viewing yourself, a kitten or a lioness?

Hezekiah - A Man Under Pressure

2011-01-04T12:50:00.000-08:00

"Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 2 Kings 18:28-30

We are not to listen to the words of the enemy, but we are to stand on God’s Words. This rang true for me this morning as I was reading my devotions in 2 Kings. Here was King Hezekiah and he was living proof that we are to stand firm in our faith when we are under pressure. You see, Hezekiah not only spoke the truth about God but he put it into action. He DID what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord! He not only tore down the places of idol worship but also told the people to stand firm on the faith that God was going to deliver them. He was a good leader that kept turning the eyes of his people, back to God. This is truly what we all need to do as followers of Christ. If one in our flock begins to get their eyes on things of the world, listen to lies of the enemy or they are in a state of discouragement, I believe that it is our job to get their eyes to focus back on the Lord. No matter what challenges that face me, I know that I am to stand firm on the promises that God has given me, to live one day at a time and not get my eyes off the Lord. Hezekiah kept telling the people to trust in the Lord and not respond to the words of the commander of the Assyrian army – to not give in to fear – but to follow the Lord with all their hearts. Difficult? Yes! It is difficult to trust in God when everything seems to be falling apart, but then God never promised us that life was going to be easy...but He did promise us that He would always provide for us (Jehovah Jireh) and that we are to rest in Him – for He will fight for us (Exodus 14:13-14). The battle is not ours, but it is God’s. We are not to listen to the words of the enemy but we are to stand firm on God’s Words! So, as I go through another day with the focus of Christ in my life, I am to put on my full armor and not let the storms nor the winds of life cause me to lose my faith in all that God has promised me. I choose Jesus and not the lies that the enemy wants me to believe. I am the daughter of the King, an ambassador of Christ and perfect in His eyes! This is also true of every Christian, they we all have been adopted into God's family and we are new creatures in Christ.
Question: Are you listening to lies of the enemy and losing your faith? Be like Hezekiah and keep your focus on God.

The Grinch That Stole Christmas

2010-12-28T14:21:00.000-08:00

"And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10
Well, here it is, the end of another Christmas! We are now looking at a whole new year and all that is headed our way in 2011. I lie here on the couch, having pulled a muscle yesterday, I have my computer on my lap, with the ice packs on my back. I begin to look at my blog then I see a function at the top of my blog page that says, "next blog". Okay, so I decide that I want to explore the other blogs and wee what other people are saying. The first one, I found a blog by a teacher that had her adoption plans fall through and she was crying all the way through Christmas. Okay, on to the next blog and this one explains how lonely this Christmas was since the death of her parent and she was trying to find a way through her loss during the Holidays. Now I am seeing the Grinch in all those blogs and I think that I better get on to my emails. Now in my emails, I read about people that are coping with lost jobs and incomes and then a woman dealing with her husband telling her that he wants a divorce. Hey guys, this is CHRISTMAS! You know, jingle bells, Winter Wonderland and the perfect Holidays with lights, presents, food and family. Well, the reality is, that life goes on and life is not perfect! What can really be the Grinch that steals Christmas, are those expectations that life has to be "perfect" during the Holidays! No, life goes on and so does unemployment, divorce, addictions, disappointment etc. What Christmas does for us is to give us hope because Christ is the gift! Jesus is the hope we can hold onto in the midst of "life". Expectations that things have to be wonderful, perfect and happy during the Holidays, sets us up for failure and disappointment. I heard a preacher say the other day, that we are to ask ourselves the question, "would this hurt less, if it was not Christmas?" That was a great reminder, that when we get disappointed or even rejected, does it hurt more because it is the Holiday? I too had a disappointment during the Holiday, when a family member did not show up for the Christmas Eve Service. I wanted to cry but I remember what I heard and I used a "measuring stick question"...."would I be as upset if it were not Christmas?". My answer was no. This meant that I had a greater expectation during the Holidays and that life does not depend or rely on circumstances that were around me. True joy is having the love of Christ in my heart and it does not go up and down, according to my circumstances. I heard once, "let not the circumstances of your life, define the circumstances of your heart". That is the difference between joy and happiness! I can have joy in my heart all the time because of my relationship with God. Happiness is temporary because it comes from external circumstances. Now I know how important the scripture is, "the joy of the Lord is my strength"! Let us really understand that we do have hope in this life and it came into this world in the form of a little baby, and his name is Jesus! He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! Jesus brings hope into the world.
Question: Are you going through some tough times during the Holidays? You can find perfect peace and joy through Jesus today!

With God, Nothing is Impossible - There are Only Possibilities

2010-12-20T12:27:00.000-08:00

"Meanwhile a prophet came to Ahab king of Israel and announced, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
“But who will do this?” asked Ahab.The prophet replied, “This is what the LORD says: ‘The junior officers under the provincial commanders will do it.’”“And who will start the battle?” he asked. The prophet answered, “You will.” (1 Kings 20:13-14)

Ever been in a situation where it seemed impossible? It is those times when your back seems to be pushed into a corner and there is no way out! It is that old saying, you are “between a rock and a hard place”. There is nothing that is impossible for God! For God, there are only possibilities. Look at today’s verse:

"Do you see this vast army? I will give it into your hand today, and then you will know that I am the Lord”

God wants to do the impossible for us to show us with our own eyes, that nothing is impossible for Him. Even if our own eyes show us that there is no way for us to overcome the most difficult of circumstances, God is working through it for us and He will bring victory. The problem we often have is that we try to do it ourselves and not allow God to work His miracles. What is impossible for us is nothing for God and we can stand on Hebrews 11:1, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of things we cannot see!" I trust that God can move mountains and even if my own eyes cannot see or perceive it, I will trust that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE with God!
Question: Are you facing an impossible situation today? Are you willing to trust in God and wait for His provisions?

God's Will Through Me

2010-11-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

"When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God." Exodus 31:18
God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai for a very long time, sharing with Moses His Will. How amazing, that Moses was in the presence of God and Moses personally heard God speak and tell Him everything that needed to be accomplished on this planet! This passage shows us how God’s Will was to be implemented, through man. God even wrote down the Covenant Law with His own finger on stone tablets. God wanted the Covenant Law recorded for everyone to see and to remember that the laws came directly from him. To me, this is the same today, for God has given us the living Word, the bible. God’s Word can speak to us daily, about all situations and is it is a means for us to hear Him and know His Will for our lives and the lives of others. It is God's voice in written form. Just as God used Moses to teach others and share about God Will, we too are to be used by God, to fulfill His purpose on this planet. We can accomplish His Will on earth, through the sharing of the Good News with others, loving others and serving others. We can further accomplish God’s Will through our words, actions and deeds.

May I be that willing vessel that He can use to accomplish His Will here on earth.
Question: Are you willing to accomplish God's Will through you?

Finding the Manna in Our Lives

2010-11-01T14:56:00.000-07:00

Manna and Quail
"The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Exodus 16:1-3

When the going gets rough and we are going through the tough times – pressing forward to where God wants us to be, we will be tested on our faith. Will we continue to push forward or will be be like the Israelites and want to go back to Egypt where the going is good? As I read this, I sensed that when we are led into the desert, it may be common to grumble, complain and wish to be back in the good ol days! The Lord wants us to dig deeper in our faith and trust that He WILL provide for us all we need. We see this as God provided quail and manna to His people in the middle of the desert. God does the same for us in our desert, for He will not abandon nor forsake us, for He will take care of us, especially when we are in the desert. We are to go out into the desert willingly, so that we can find and gather the manna He has for us. What lessons can we learn? What is it that He wants us to learn in the middle of the desert? He will have us go out to find the manna in our lives, we just need to look. Let us not wish to go back to Egypt and out of the times of testing, the times of sifting, but to look at what does God want us to find (the manna) in this experience. Are you willing to find manna in your desert experience? Gather those experiences, those lessons that God wants us to keep! Even in the darkest times, God Provides. (Jehoval Jireh)

Questions: Are you in the desert? Can you begin to look around and see what God wants you to learn in this experience as the manna in your life?

Basket Riding

2010-10-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? "The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known." (Exodus 2:11-14)
We are not to take our destiny into our own hands, but wait for God to launch us off to our destiny at His perfect timing and His perfect location. We are to ride in the basket of faith down the river of the living water! I see the same reoccurring theme here as with Abraham and with Joseph! God had given them a vision of their destiny and they were impatient and took it into their own hands and did an “Ishmael”. When God gives us a vision, it is very important to not only store it in our hearts but to wait for God’s perfect timing, to have Him launch us out. We are not to take the vision, even though it is God inspired, and to take things in our own hands, then try to make it happen in the physical world. God needs to be the director and orchestrator of our lives. I see this for me and the Prayer & Healing Ministry that I am involved with. I know the plan and vision that God gave to me about where we are headed, but it is not up to me to “create it” and seek out opportunities to make it happen. If I did, then I am doing it in my own strength and effort and it would be doomed to failure! This is what happened to Moses. Like I had mentioned earlier in my Lego block illustration, I can prepare myself by doing my part but then God will come in and do His part and launch me off in HIS PERFECT TIME. He will bring those opportunities to me and all I have to do is be ready. We cannot take things in our own hands, but just be prepared and be ready to accept those opportunities that He brings our way. It is NOT about us making it happen by going out and finding the opportunities on our own. We are to be like little baby Moses in our reed baskets, being launched down the stream in protection and comfort by God – to a destiny that was created by God to fulfill His purpose. We just need to rest and await our destiny at the right place and right time. I am grateful to see the vision of me being in the comfortable basket and being launched on the living waters to the destiny that God has intended for me! What a wonderful ride it is!

Question: Are you basket riding? Are you willing to go down the river and trust that God has it all in control?

Man Forgets - God Sees

2010-10-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

The Eye of the Eagle
"The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him." Genesis 40:23

We may be forgotten by man, but never by God! The words from Genesis 40, really stuck out in my mind, “he forgot him”. Isn’t that so common, that we can be forgotten or overlooked by man but we are never overlooked by God. How often have we done a task that took lots of time and effort, with the end result that nobody noticed?! That has happened to me and I am sure to you too. When you feel unappreciated or neglected and that can lead to a number one “pity party”. We can so easily want the approval of man, to get the acknowledgement of others, but what is important here is that God sees us! We should always play to the audience of one – for Him. Have we done the best in His eyes? We know that God “sees” because of His name, that was spoken in Genesis and that is El Roi (the God that Sees). I remember once that I had a lady that worked really hard on a seminar on the topic of health and fitness. We worked on getting the publicity out and she was ready for her presentation. We got there to the site and there was only one woman that was to take her class! She was devastated and wanted to leave. I pulled her aside and told her, “what about the one?”. I taught her about being flexible to what God wanted her to do and when we debriefed later, she said that the one area that she had the most difficulty in, was teaching in small intimate groups – for she was way better at standing behind a podium speaking. Now, didn’t God just orchestrate this? We pushed all the chairs in a circle and she had to facilitate instead of teach. That was the lesson she learned and she was forced to face her fears! She did well, and it taught us both a valuable lesson. We may think that we are forgotten, but God does not and often has a way better plan! God sees us when nobody else does. This is like the amazing eye of the eagle, which can focus on a specific area at an incredible distance. The eagle can narrow his vision down to seeing a fish in a stream while flying in the heights. That is our God, He Sees and knows everything we do.
Question: Are you feeling unappreciated or neglected? There is one that sees everything you do and that is the Lord that Sees, El Roi.

Enjoy Your Own Backyard

2010-09-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."But she said to her, "Wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son's mandrakes too?" "Very well," Rachel said, "he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son's mandrakes." Genesis 30:14-15

What started all this birth competition between Leah and Rachel, was envy. It was about looking at what another person had and wanting it. It is the grass being greener on the other side and doing everything you can to try to achieve it. It even came down to the using of herbs, the mandrake. I did an extensive search on this mysterious plant. The root resembles a person because the bottom root is separated into two and looks like human legs. It has fragrant purple flowers and leaves, that were used to line beds for the sweet fragrance it gives off and it was a way of enticing one to enter the bed and procreate. It was later used as a symbol of fertility. This root was mentioned as having an aphrodisiac tendency and made one sleepy. It is used in witchcraft. To sum it up, it is a form of witchcraft because it uses a plant as a means to a human purpose – trying to make something happen in the spiritual to become a reality in the physical. It is a good lesson to see how one can want something in life so bad that they become fixated on it and they try everything they can do make it happen. I think of women that want to get married and they try everything they can to meet “the one”. They look for love in all the wrong places, and they focus on “not having”. It is looking at the glass "half empty" rather than the glass being “half full”. Their eyes have strayed so far away from God that their focus on God has changed to a focus on themselves. I have learned that God has everyone exactly where He wants them to be and that we may not understand why, but He has a greater plan. Embrace your singleness and see the joy in it and not the negative side. Embrace where you are at – bloom where you are planted. God knows our hearts and desires, so we pray and ask, trusting that He will provide but it has to be in His time and not ours. Don’t live life always looking at the other side of the fence but enjoy your own yard. It truly is a wonderful place to be, for God has placed you there, so enjoy it. Enjoy His gift!

Question: Are you looking at the grass on the other side of the fence and thinking it is a better place for you? Can you begin to refocus your vision as to where God has you now, and celebrate it?

When God Calls, GO!

2010-09-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it." So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" "I will go," she said.( Genesis 24: 55-58)

We see the same "calling" in Genesis 12 when Abram got the call from God to leave his home, everything he knew as familiar and to go to a place unknown, because God called him. Abram heard the call and he followed God's call, not knowing where God was taking him. Here is another example of “I will go” and it is spoken from Rebekah when her parents wanted her to stay a little longer but she knew that if she was called, to a life unknown, to a husband she did not know, that she needed to go now and leave everything behind. Do we also have the same obedience? To leave our comfort zones? To leave everything behind when we sense God calling us to an unfamiliar place? We may get called to do something small, and it may be scary and uncomfortable. An example of this is a time when I was eating at a restaurant and I sensed God was telling me to watch a young man at another table. I watched him with an elderly lady and the glow and light of Jesus was so bright. I was amazed to see this light and joy, fill the space around him. I knew there was something "different" about him and that there was such light, peace and joy that was coming from him. Then, he bowed his head and prayed with the older woman. "That's it, he's a Christian and that is the light of Jesus shining through him!" I then sensed the Lord telling me to tell him that Jesus' light is shining very brightly through him and that God has a purpose and plan on his life that this light is to go into this dark world and touch the lives that are living in darkness. “Are you kidding, Lord?” I felt so small and uncomfortable and decided to pass it off. “Nah, He can’t be asking me to do this!” Then I got it a second and then a third prompting. "Okay, I will do it" I thought and then I went to their table and felt so foolish and uncomfortable . I introduced myself then I delivered the message. They smiled and I found out he was a Christian at a familiar church in the neighborhood and the lady was his mom. I shook their hands and then left to get back into my car. I sat and prayed – thanking God for using me and having me get outside my comfort zone to deliver what He wanted me to do! He may call us to do something small, but it will certainly be uncomfortable and may be challenging. The question is, will you go? Will you do it – even if it is uncomfortable. I am grateful that I heard the call and did what he told me to do. I still don’t know why I was told to do this but God sure knew!

Taint the Saints

2010-09-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

"They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." Genesis 11:3-4

Here it is, the famous Tower of Babel that was built from the pride of man! The intent behind the building was to glorify the people and to have it visible for all to see! They wanted to make a name for themselves through their glorious man-made achievement! Today, this tower is a representation of those things in our lives that could build up our pride and eventually lead to our downfall. God loves the humble and not the prideful. He wants us to worship Him, and that was how we were created and it was to honor God in all we do and to build altars to him and not ourselves. Think about the word "pride" and realize, that was the cause of the fall of Satan from Heaven! In Proverbs 16:18 it states that "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall". We all need to be cautious of how pride can slowly begin to take root in our lives and that can start us to build our own tower of pride. Many have fallen to sin, even pastors, when they get puffed up and prideful in the areas of wealth, prestige and power. These elements can taint the saints. We all need to be watchful, for those areas in which the enemy can entice us to open that door of pride in our lives and give the enemy a foothold. These sins will begin to start us building the foundation of our Tower of Babel and we build it brick by brick, until we have created this tower of pride in our lives. We need to guard ourselves and to keep our focus on the Lord and not ourselves. We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – not things of the world and that includes our own accomplishments. We need to decrease for God to increase. When we begin to get puffed up and prideful at what we have accomplished, we need to get down on our knees and realize that where we are today is only because of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God be increased and magnified in your life so you can decrease. Help us to remain small, hidden and powerless so God can be magnified and seen.
Question: What tower have you built in your life that glorifies yourself and not God?

Big Task-Big God

2010-09-03T11:43:00.000-07:00

Artist: Edward Hicks

That very day Noah had gone into the boat with his wife and his sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth—and their wives. With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal—domestic and wild, large and small—along with birds of every kind.Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes. A male and female of each kind entered, just as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord closed the door behind them. Genesis 7:13-16
As I read about the task that God had given Noah to do, I was amazed at the obedience and faith that Noah needed, in order to complete God’s task. Noah heard what God wanted him to do, and he did what he could do with his own human efforts, but that was not going to be enough to get God's task done. There were things that Noah could not possibly do in this task and this is where his faith came in. God walked Noah through this process every step of the way. God gave him the plans on the dimentions of the ark and how to build it and Noah complied. God called for the animals to come to the ark and Noah led them in. It came time to close the door of the ark and God closed the door! This tells me one really good lesson today and this is when you have a really huge task ahead of you, God will do His part if you do yours. Noah relied on God and God did His part and Noah did his! It is a partnership that is built on faith and obedience. When there is a big task facing you, remember that you cannot accomplish it without God. It reinforces the phrase, Big Task-Big God! Nothing is impossible for the God! Question: Are you facing a difficult task that seems impossible? Will you trust God that if you do your part, that He will do His?

Walking in Faith

2010-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." (Hebrews 11:13-15)
After reading Hebrews 11 this morning, I sat down and began to meditate more on the word “faith” and what it truly means to me. I wanted to share these thoughts with you today. I memorized Hebrews 11:1 and I often share that verse to encourage others through those difficult and tough times in life. To me, that verse is about having “faith” that God is working behind the scenes in our behalf, even though we cannot see those works with our human eyes. We then have "faith", knowing that it is the Lord’s battle and He is fighting for us. Now, lets take it one step further in this thought process. It is at one spiritual level, to have “faith” to believe in our hearts and mind, that God is fighting for us and that gives us peace in the midst of our challenges. But I think that God wants us to take it up a spiritual level to have us “walk in faith”. To "walk in faith" is to take action in our lives and to walk in the confidence as though what we hope for has already come about. Faith without action is only wishful thinking. An example of walking in faith was Abraham that when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. That, I believe, is faith! It is about not looking back but straining our vision forward to what God has in store for us and then being obedient in our actions. What is our vision based on? Is it of things of this world or are we looking forward to Heavenly rewards and what God has prepared for us? Let us all begin to refocus today on our Heavenly rewards and begin to take action today as men and women of faith. I am blown away with the new awareness that God showed me today in His Word. It is for me to have a focus on the future and on the promises that God has shown me – even though I cannot see them being fulfilled now, and to walk in that faith daily.

Question: Are you walking in faith? What do you need to release in order to get a more faith filled focus?

Nothing is Impossible

2010-08-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

“Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

”That is impossible!” is a phrase that needs to be removed from our vocabulary. It is a perception that has been created from our human eyes and from our own thinking. We may see a situation and process it as “impossible” and it is only from our own experiences that we see no options. We may go through our past experiences and see that Plan A, Plan B and Plan C have worked for us in the past but none of these human solutions are going to work for this problem. When we get to this point of trying to figure it out on our own, we need to STOP and realize that the solutions are endless for God. God not only has a Plan D but His solutions are endless! We are trying to come up with the answers with our limited human capabilities. We need to realize that NOTHING is impossible with God. We need to have a greater awareness of this verse also. Notice that it does not say, “nothing is impossible FOR God” but it says, “nothing is impossible WITH God”. You see, it is a partnership and that partnership has to do with God and us. Our part is to go to God in prayer to seek His wisdom, His answers and to give the impossible situation to Him, to deal with. When we do that in partnership with Him, He will transform the impossible to possible! All things are possible WITH God Let us be humbled this morning at the realization that what we thought as impossible, IS possible WITH God but, we also have to be part of this equation.... ME + GOD = Possibilities. Any other equation is not effective nor will it provide results.

Question: Are you facing a situation that seems impossible? Can you begin to trust in God more?

(This is a repeat blog from February 2010, but I felt it needed to be posted today, for I sense that someone out there is facing what they see as a brick wall and they think there is no way out - the Lord is telling you right now, that there is a way out, and that is to do life with Him!)

Shift Your Focus Outward

2010-08-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

"There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong." (Hebrews 5:11-14)

Ever feel spiritually dull? Ever wonder what is your calling? Do you ever find yourself going to more conferences, reading more books, filling yourself more and more? There comes a time in everyone’s life, that your spiritual journey needs to shift from the focus of your needs, your desires, your wants and it needs to turn to an outward direction, with the purpose of sharing what God has done for you. It is like the baby that transitions from drinking from the bottle to eating solid food. Now is the time when we need to begin to look outward, as the salt and light in this world, to tell everyone about Jesus. Everyone has a story and every story is meant to be shared with others. I have encountered so many women that are wanting to be fed and yet they have a story of encouragement that needs to be shared. God has created this unique story in your life and it is not to be kept on a bookshelf gathering dust, but it is to be shared. It is time for you to stop drinking milk from the bottle and begin to share your story about your walk with Jesus so others can be encouraged and learn from you. Everyone has an important testimony within, that is bursting to come forth. I believe that you were put through those those tough challenges in your life so that you were to grow in your spiritual maturity with the purpose of sharing it with others. How will you begin that today? Will you be willing to share what Jesus has done in your life so others can be inspired? I believe that it is a call to wake up and to take that next spiritual step in your life. Everyone has a call upon their lives and it is through your obedience that you will take that next step and to share it. You will be blessed in the process when you see how your story will encourage others.We cannot drink from a bottle forever and there is a turning point in our spiritual lives in which we will be launched into the process of eating solid food and teaching others through our own personal experiences!

Transformed

2010-07-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus ." (1 Timothy 12-14)
Paul writes to Timothy and shares his heart with him about his past and where God has taken him on his spiritual journey. He takes a moment in time to reflect back in to where he came from and where he is now. He then sees how far the Lord has brought him through Jesus Christ. He sees that it was not by his own works or deeds that he gained this favor but it was through the mercy and grace that was poured upon him. We too have the same mercy in our lives and can see where we came from and where we are now. Stop a moment and reflect where you were five years ago. Take a good look at your life and where were you in your spiritual journey. Now, fast forward and look to where you are today. If you have been born again, you will be like Paul and see how far you have come and what great mercy has been poured upon your life. Take for example the water lily. Where do you think this beautiful blossom comes from? Water lily roots are firmly rooted in the mud and debris in the still and stagnant waters. Look at where the water lily comes from and the magnificent flower that is produced from the muck and mire. Our lives are like that too, for we can come from a pretty sinful place and because of the transformation in our lives through Jesus Christ, we too can have beauty come from our lives. Like in Isaiah 61, we will be transformed to "beauty from ashes".
How grateful I am in having been called and answered that call. I have been transformed through the mercy of Jesus Christ. May others know of the redemptive quality that can be received when one received Jesus as their savior.
Question: Where were you in your life five years ago? Has Jesus transformed your life?

Peace Within

2010-07-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." 2 Thessalonians 3:16

As I reflect on this picture this morning, I get a great sense of peace. Look at the stream running in the front of the cottage. There are trees and so much tranquility there. You don’t see the freeway filled with cars, cell phones and work stations here. The location is isolated and away from distractions. We can relate this to our own lives by removing yourself from your everyday stresses and entering into a place where there is peace. I believe that we can have what Paul writes about in this verse, an inner peace at all times. We can be in the middle of a chaotic event and still have peace. Is that hard to imagine? Just think of this – when you received salvation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you. That means that peace is always in you and with you. Outside yourself, there is the chaotic world and all the stimulus that can rob you of that peace but the catch here, is ONLY IF YOU LET IT! Yes, you can still stay near the clear still waters if we dig deep and go to that place of peace when life begins to try to steal it from you. What does the enemy come to do? Steal, Kill and Destroy and the first item on his agenda is your peace! So when you get challenged by the world, begin to dig deep inside to those peaceful and calm waters to refresh and restore your soul. We truly can be at peace at all times and in all ways! Let us always dig deep within ourselves during stressful times and not allow our peace to be stolen by the enemy. We will not allow him to rob me of the peace that is within!
Question: Are you allowing the enemy to steal your peace?

Joy, Pray and Thank Daily

2010-07-27T14:26:00.001-07:00

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Now isn’t this a very simple model to follow to live out God’s will in our lives? To have joy, to pray and to give thanks all day long. What does it mean to always be joyful? I like to define joy as a feeling of peace that is within that is not dependent on the circumstances of our lives. Unlike being happy, which seems to be generated around events and it is a temporary emotonal state. Joy can be within us at all times! To pray continually is to always have a prayer under your breath as you go through the day. When my internet cable went out this morning I was praying continuously or when I am looking for that lost item in the house. I ask Him to help me in all I do, all day long. Also, I give him praise all day long. Like when I go to the gym and I finish a set, I whisper, “thank you Lord”. For He is my strength and I remember a year ago when I was bedridden with a herniated disc in my back, I would not be exercising today, if it were not for God healing me! Everything I do, I can see through the eyes of gratitude and give the Lord thanks. But my thanks does not only come when things go my way. I can thank the Lord in crisis and when things look the darkest. Why? Because I know I have a God that is going to get me through it. I have a God that gives me hope and promises that I can find in His Word. I have a God that has shown me that He will never leave me nor forsake me. I have God in my heart, and for this, I am truly thankful! Joy, Pray, Thank is my motto today – to live life as a faithful Christian. What a great scripture, simple and clear for all to understand and apply.

Question: Are you experiencing joy today? Do you pray and thank God through out your day?

Rooted in Jesus

2010-07-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7

I focus on these tree roots this morning and see the visual right in front of my face, on how my life needs to be “rooted” in Jesus. He is to be at my very source of nourishment, at my roots. Roots are the part of the tree that holds the tree firm in the ground but also it also feeds the entire tree. The Lord is to be my foundation and everything I do is to be fed by Him. Reading God’s Word daily and reflecting on His Will for my life, is what I know is part of God being my nourishment the sustenance which makes me thrive. My life is to be built on Him and as in the Psalms, he is my rock and my foundation for which I stand. If my roots are firmly planted in the ground then I am receiving the living water from the Lord. It does not matter when the rains come, the storms come, the fires or devastation come to shake my tree. My roots are solid in the ground and that is where my source comes from – it comes from the Lord. I really love this analogy of the tree and the roots. On the other hand, we can have "bitter roots" of anger, resentment, rejection, fear and other strongholds that the enemy has placed in our lives through traumatic and painful events. We can choose to have our roots planted in the Lord and then we will receive health and peace or we can choose to have our roots planted in bitterness and resentment. Where do you want your roots? It makes a difference when you think about what fruit will be produced from those roots. Really makes you think, doesn’t it? Let us all praise Him for being that solid rock in which we stand!

Question: Are your roots firmly planted in Jesus? What kind of fruit are you producing in your life?

Beware of Those Fiery Arrows

2010-07-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

“A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.Ephesians 6:10-13
We have all been through those tough times in life and often sense we are under attack. We sense those fiery arrows coming at us and we know in those times, we are being called to a battle – a spiritual battle. It is not a war against things of this world like people or circumstances, but it is a battle against the unseen in the spiritual realm. Sure, life happens and we cannot always say that when rough times comes it is all from the devil, for that is giving him way too much credit and focus. But when a battle comes, we need to realize that we have stepped into a battle in the mind. Let us begin to realize that when we accept the fiery arrow of hurt/pain/offense, we are now spiritually “wounded”. I have experienced this wounding and I know what it feels like when I have accepted a hurt and then I feel like that fiery arrow has pierced my heart and I am now down on the ground, wounded in Spirit. We are to be aware and on guard so that we do not accept that arrow of offense. Once we let down our shield of faith, the arrow can penetrate and and now we are wounded warriors. We are always to wear our full armor as described in Ephesians 6 and to not ever walk out of our houses without that spiritual protection. We would not walk outside being naked and neither should we do the same spiritually. Be on guard always and have your armor ready for those times when the enemy wants you to receive those fiery arrows in the battlefield of your mind. Stand firm mighty warriors and be aware when we begin to get annoyed, angry, upset, offended that that is the warning signal or battle cry to begin to fight the war in you mind by not taking the offense and taking those lies and thoughts captive. Stand firm this verse says and you will have victory against those attacks from the enemy. I realize the importance to put on my spiritual armor daily and to watch for those danger signals of emotions and offense. When I sense those gates are tying to be opened in my mind, I stand firm with all the full armor that God has given me. May I walk in victory, all the days of my life! I am called to be a warrior and part of being a warrior is to always be ready for battle!

Question: What battle are you engaged in? Have you put on your spiritual armor today? Are you ready to stand firm against those fiery arrows?

Let the Light Shine

2010-07-14T19:26:00.001-07:00

"Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." (Ephesians 5:7-10)
We have the light of the Lord within us and no matter where we go, we bring this light with us! I remember having a conversation with a lady and it was about the light of the Lord that is within us, that shines out and others seem to perceive it. My friend said that when she called a customer service, she got a brash and rude person on the other end. No matter what she said, she was receiving opposition. Even when she hung up, she sensed that nothing she could do or say would change this person’s heart. She had tried but nothing was successful. I had to chuckle on this one because of this very verse. I explained that it it was NOT about her but the lady was reacting to the light of Jesus that was within her. Here was someone that was sensing the light of Jesus on the other end of the phone and she could not tolerate it. That happens, when the light begins to permeate the darkness – it brings to light those things that are kept hidden and in the dark. We take this light with us, everywhere we go. So the next time you run into a rude person, know that it is probably not about you, but they are reacting to the light of Jesus within you! I always want to remember that this light goes with me everywhere I go. Darkness cannot stand light and there may be an adverse reaction to the presence of Jesus within me. Light always will shine in the darkness and it will illuminate and bring to the light, those things that are hidden. May I take joy in the knowledge that the light of Jesus is within me.

Question: When was the last time when you felt opposition to you? Did you ever think that it was not about you but they were reacting to the light within you?

The Bait of Offense

2010-07-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:26-27; 31-32)

Have you ever read God's Word and it was so convicting that it was like you got hit on the side of the head with a 2 x 4 piece of wood? Today's journal is that journey for me. I am keely aware that anger can give a foothold to the enemy in our lives. God's Word tells us that we are to forgive one another as soon as we realize we have taken the bait of offense. John Bevere wrote a book, "The Bait of Satan" and I learned so much from him and how we can get offended but the offense is not from others but it stays in our hearts. I believe that these verses are ones that we are to tuck away in our tool box for those times when we get upset with our spouse, family and/or friends. I like to think of this as the formula for when we get offended or hurt by others. We are given the bait by satan in the form of an offense through words and/or actions by others. Once we feel offended there is always an emotion that comes into our heats: anger, resentment, bitterness etc. It is at this point when we allow ourselves to be offended that we accept that offense and now we have given the enemy a foothold into our minds and lives. Now all we can do is focus on the offense and begin to replay the tape in our minds and the emotion (anger, bitterness, resentment) becomes stronger and we then become more justified in our position of being right and the enemy is increasing his grip in our minds. When we are at this point, it is called an “oppression”. That is the foothold that we allow the enemy into our lives. That is why this verse says to forgive one another and don’t wait, for the longer you keep it in your heart as an offense, then the foothold goes deeper. That is why the verse about not letting the sun go down while you are angry is important – for it is about the amount of time you dwell on the offense. Does that literally mean that as soon as it becomes night we need to forgive? I think there is a greater implication of this. Yes, you should not go to bed angry because it is more time that the enemy to gain that foothold. To me, what this means is that you are not to delay or let ANY amount of time go by when you are offended and have taken the bait. When you sense an oppression, it is to be dealt with as soon as you can and not let it to sit and reproduce more justifications in your mind. The longer the oppression is on you, the more that the lies of the enemy are allowed to sink in (like roots that begin to grow). The longer it stays then the more attached those oppressions become and the more you are now deceived by the enemy with the lies. We are to stand on guard of the gates of our minds, to make sure that we are knowing God’s Word which is truth and that the truth in His Word sets us free. This Ephesians 4 is the freedom chapter about the danger of taking offense and what to do. Paul wrote the manual on how to deal with oppressions and for this, I am grateful. After reading these verses today, I not only have absorbed what the Spirit has been leading me, but now am able to TAKE ACTION when I find myself being offended or hurt by others. I need to know that as soon as I am offended that I own up to my feelings and the justifications. I am to get into His Word, see truth and to ask for forgiveness. Unless I ask for forgiveness in repentance, then I am still holding on and the oppression will not leave. I pray that this is part of my life always and that I can share this, teach this and equip others on what to do when the bait of offense is taken in our lives.
Question: When were you last offended or hurt by others? Have you forgiven them? Are you holding on to the offense to give the enemy a foothold in your life in the form of an oppression? Forgive now and be released!

Praise in the Storm

2010-05-24T12:06:00.001-07:00

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:4-5

We can “praise Him in the storm” as the musical group, Casting Crowns sings. I heard that song on K-Love radio one day and they mentioned that the song was being dedicated to a young boy that had just lost his battle to cancer that morning and that was his favorite song! Oh my heart broke at that moment, for in the middle of that battle for life, this boy knew that God never left his side and every tear that was shed was saved. This young boy was in the middle of the “perfect storm” in his life and yet he would keep his eyes focused on God, and he kept praising God for who God is, no matter how rough the storm was. I thought about the courage this boy had, that even in the midst of pain and suffering he was worshiping and giving his praises to God. What courage, what strength, what focus! I understood about praising in the storm, for when I had my herniated disc and I was living on my couch for about two months, all I had was God and He sustained me. Without God I had no hope. My praises did not depend on the circumstances in my life, but it depended on where my heart was at. My circumstances did not determine my heart and I too could praise Him in the midst of my storm. When in the storm and being battered around, I would cling to Him because He gave me hope and He gave me faith to get me through all things. Although God may not take away the circumstances when I would like them to be removed, I was able to hold onto His promises in His Word that He would never leave me nor forsake me. He is with me always and all I have to do is raise my eyes to him and see that he is there and has always been there for me – storm or no storm, he is standing at my side!

Question: Are you in the middle of a storm in your life? Can you start to praise God, even in the middle of a storm, regardless of the circumstances that surround you?

What's in a Name?

2010-04-18T12:57:00.001-07:00

“I Am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”“I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9 He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.” John 18:5-8
For some reason, this really stood out to me this morning. It was one of those chilly mornings where I sat with my hot coffee and a lap blanket over my legs and began to read God’s Word. There it was, staring at me in bold letters, “I Am”. At first, I wondered why the letter “A” was capitalized and then it drew my attention to the many times when Jesus said who he was. Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks, that Jesus was stating that He was from the Father and that he was “I Am”. Whoa, that was one of those light bulb over my head moments. So I thought about Exodus when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and encountered the burning bush. When Moses asked, who are you, he heard, “I Am” (Exodus 3:4)
God said to Moses, "I am who I am . This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "
Well, there is the verse about the name that God gave himself, “I AM”. Now here it is, when Jesus is taken before the various judges, he states the same that he is “I Am he”. What caught my eye was the first time Jesus told the soldiers that he was “I Am he”, they “all drew back and fell on the ground”. That was powerful for me because just the words, “I Am” so astonished the soldiers that they fell! That is the power of the name and when it came from Jesus’ mouth, they were knocked off their feet.
Ah, I thought this morning, what power was in the name of Jesus. I think of the verse:

"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

What power is in His name that EVERY knee should bow and where? Heaven, on earth AND under the earth. That means that the name of Jesus is a powerful tool to fight in spiritual warfare! On the earth and under the earth which is Satan’s dominion and just the name of Jesus, makes the demons tremble! The name "Jesus" can make demons leave, can heal the sick and can do many miracles. I am overwhelmed this morning and realize that Jesus was making the statement that He was of God and God was in him. Too bad, many heard the truth but did not believe. Not only do we use the name of Jesus in spiritual warfare, but we are to use the precious name of Jesus with honor, respect and with the greatest of praise. His name is above all names! May the name of Jesus be given all the honor, glory and praise that it deserves!

Question: Have you ever thought about the power of a name? Has this changed your perception of the name of Jesus?

A Turtle Decision

2010-03-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place” Ephesians 6:14

After I did a Google search this morning for an image for Ephesians 6:14, I got an astonishing result. It was a photo of turtles on a log! When that photo came up, I said, “Huh?”. Then I meditated on what the scripture said about standing firm and I thought, "yes, the turtles are standing firm on the log”....then I realized that the “breastplate of righteousness” was the turtle shell! "Oh, I get it now!" As the light dawned in my brain, I realized that the breastplate of righteousness that we wear is like a turtle shell and it is in the spot where we need it most. It covers all our critical and necessary internal organs of survival, like the heart, kidneys, spleen, lungs and liver. The "righteousness" that we wear is the ethical conduct in which we live out our lives. It is when we are faced with a moral decision and we know God’s Word (truth) and we use that to base our decisions. " What is the right thing to do?", verses "What do I think I want to do?". Sometimes those are tough decisions. Knowing God’s truth helps us to “stand firm” and to do the right thing in difficult circumstances.

Think about this ethical example.. a politician that has an expense account for his business meals that the funds come from the Democratic party. He chooses to take his wife out to dinner, his parents out to dinner and thinking it is okay since the funds were set aside for "meals". This money was set aside for business meals and he uses it for his personal use. He compromised his integrity and it was not right. Bottom line here is that, we will all be faced with decisions in life and it is up to us to stand firm and to know God’s truth to be able to make those decisions wisely as God would want us to do. After today, I will remember the turtle picture – standing firm with the breastplate of righteousness...to do the right thing when facing difficult decisions. I want to always make “turtle decisions” in life.

Question: Are you faced with an ethical decision today? Would you like to make a turtle decision based on God's truth?

Weather the Storm with God

2010-03-16T19:07:00.001-07:00

" And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” (Numbers 14:8-9)

In scripture, the Israelites fled from Egypt to the desert with the promise of a better life. They left the bondage of the Egyptians to the freedom that God was giving them. They began their journey in hope and faith that God was bringing them into a better life. Then as soon as they started facing hardships, their faith began to fade. They started to entertain thoughts of going back to Egypt where life was easier – and their hearts were hardened and they became rebellious. When things began to get rough they didn’t stand on God’s promises and hold onto the faith that the Lord was in control. They let the giants in the land fill their hearts with fear and that created rebellion against God. The Lord promises us that when we are obedient to Him, He will take care of us, He will protect us, He will take us to a place of milk and honey. Does it mean that we will no longer have any challenges in our lives? No, but it means that when those tough times do come, we are to stand in faith on the promises He gives us in His Word and know that God is with us and that he will never leave nor forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:8) Today, as I face challenges that I cannot control, I surrender it all to God, and know that He will sustain me and cover me with His blessings – for there is always an end to the rough times and I am just to weather the storm with God.

Question: Are you in the midst of a storm in your life? Are you willing to stand on God's promises for a good future by holding onto your faith?

Peace Within

2010-02-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

In everything he (David) did he had great success,because the LORD was with him. 1 Samuel 18:14

The Lord was with David in everything that he did. What a difference it was between two men, Saul and David. The Lord had found favor in both of them but then something changed. It began to change when one emotion came up and it was “jealousy”. Go back a few verses and it explains that as David came back from battle and he and Saul were coming into the city, the people were shouting and singing about the victory from the battle. The people sang that Saul killed thousands but David killed tens of thousands. At that point, Saul became “jealous” and the favor of the Lord left him. He entertained the thoughts and the Spirit of Jealousy entered him. After the Spirit of Jealousy entered Saul, then the Spirit of Fear entered him also. But what did David do? He kept doing what God told him to do, he kept serving the King and being obedient to him and did not react to these unfair and unjust reactions to him. Look at the picture of the kitten above and see the calm and peace in the face. I believe that David had the Lord in his heart and that in the midst of Saul throwing at spear at him in a jealous rage, that David was steadfast and felt peace and calmness in the midst of the storm. We too can be like David, and to not react to circumstances and just have the peace within, knowing that God is with us and He is the one that sustains us.The sunshine that is on the kitten is like the favor, love and grace that God shines on us daily! I want to be like the kitten in the picture, that I can do what God wants me to do in this life and have the "kitten-like peace" come upon me that sustains me in all situations.

Question: Do you need peace in your life today? Are you willing to be more like David and allow the peace of God to invade your life?

Preserved by God's Care

2010-02-17T10:55:00.001-08:00

"You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love.My life was preserved by your care." Job 10:12

You are probably wondering about this picture that I had decided to post. I thought about the phrase, “preserved by your care” and the vision of us taking care of our cars came to my mind. I think about what we do to clean, wax and polish our cars to make sure that it lasts longer and is in good care. Not only do we take care of the outside of our cars but we make sure the inside is vacuumed and well maintained. It does not stop there, we also make sure that we care for our engine by having the oil changed and take the car in for regular maintenance. But don’t stop there, for we also have to take care of the tires and rotate them but also replace them when they are worn. There is so much care that has to be done on cars – and I didn’t even get into the financial care of the monthly payments and the insurance. Wow! There is lots of time, effort and care that is put into our vehicles and wait....isn’t that what God’s unfailing love is like? He makes sure that we are cared for in ALL the area of our lives whether it be emotional, physical or spiritual. He works on us from the inside out and gives us the best care possible!
I am grateful that God keeps me well maintained through His unfailing love and his daily care for me. He watches out for me and provides for my every need. I am so blessed!

Question: Name one thing that God had done to care for you recently? How has God maintained you daily?

My Portion

2010-02-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

You are my portion, O LORD;
I have promised to obey your words. I have sought your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise." Psalm 119:57-58

This scripture was a perfect illustration that God knows everything about us and that HE is our portion. Think of the word “portion”. Think of when you go out to eat at a restaurant and sometimes the portions on your plate are very small and other times they are so big that you have to take the left-overs home with you. God is perfect and He fills us up perfectly – not too little nor too much – but He fills us to fullness, right up to the edges of plates and to just the capacity of what we can hold. He fills us, He completes us, He is our everything! Today my focus is on how complete God makes me and how perfect is His portion! He is my everything and without Him, my plate is empty!

Question: Is your life filled with God? What can you do to have God fill you completely?

Impossible to Possible

2010-02-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

“Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)

”That is impossible!” is a phrase that needs to be removed from my vocabulary. It is a perception from my human eyes and from my own thinking. I may see a situation and process it as not being able to be resolved and it is only from my own experiences that I see no options. I may go through my experiences and see that Plan A, Plan B and Plan C have worked for me in the past but none of these human solutions would work for this problem. When I get to this point of trying to figure it out on my own, I need to STOP and realize that the solutions are endless for God. God not only has a Plan D but His solutions are endless! I am trying to come up with the answers with my limited human capabilities. I need to realize that NOTHING is impossible with God. I have a greater awareness of this verse also. Notice that it does not say, “nothing is impossible FOR God” but it says, “nothing is impossible WITH God”. You see, it is a partnership and that partnership has to do with God and me. Our part is to go to God in prayer to seek His wisdom, His answers and to give the impossible situation to Him, to deal with. When we do that in partnership with Him, He will transform the impossible to possible! All things are possible WITH God! I am humbled this morning at the realization that what I thought as impossible, is possible WITH God but, I also have to be part of this equation.... ME + GOD = Possibilities. Any other equation is not effective nor will it provide results.
Question: Are you facing some impossible circumstances in your life? Are you willing to partner with God through prayer and see God make the impossible to be possible in your life?

War on the Floor

2010-02-04T14:06:00.001-08:00

As I get up this morning, I look outside at a cloudy day and I feel the chill that is still in the air. There is a cold wind blowing outside and I am bundled up in a warm jacket and a cozy blanket around my legs. I am doing what I need to do to stay warm and to shield myself from the cold from outside. I don’t think that it is any different in our spiritual journeys, that we are always preparing for the battles that come into our lives. We can stay protected and shielded through God’s Word and Prayer. I believe that every Christian needs to be prepared with those spiritual weapons that can fight against the war of living in this world. We live in a world that is full of daily challenges. How can we be prepared to go into battle and be well equipped to have a victory through Christ? Take this picture as an example, that we battle the war on the floor, through praying in earnest. We are not to fight our battles with weapons of the world such as arguing, justifying, condemning, judging, fighting, controlling and other demonic elements that the enemy uses to have us hold onto us as strongholds in our lives. When we use these weapons against those who we may perceive as “our enemies”, the fruit that come out of those battles are only bitterness, resentment and anger. If we look at verse 5 in this passage, it says to take your thoughts captive. There it is, the battlefield of your mind!! Joyce Meyer has written a book about this subject but the best way to reinforce this concept is to know that the enemy is prowling like a lion, and wants to get to us to entertain those thoughts that are not fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control) If things that we are thinking do not line up with the Fruits of the Spirit, then we know exactly where they are coming from. This is when we get on our knees to fight this battle in our mind and take those thoughts captive and begin to speak God’s Words (God's Word is our sword of truth). Taking those negative thoughts captive is to have control over your mind, to not play those old tapes of bitterness, resentment nor of offense. We need to let it go and put our thoughts on those things of God! It is a war – a real battle to fight in our minds, but through prayer and knowing God’s Word, we have victory in our lives!!

Question: What do you need to "war on the floor" about? Are there any thoughts you need to take captive today?

The Battle of Life

2010-02-03T12:22:00.001-08:00

"So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. Zechariah 4:6 (NIV)

When we get up in the morning, begin our day in prayer , asking for protection with the full armor of God against things of this world and then get into His Word (the sword)... we are still NOT prepared to go into our daily battle of life. There is just one more element that we need to do after being equipped with our armor and God’s Word. It is to kneel before God, to humble ourselves and ask to be emptied of all sin and everything that is considered “self”. We ask the Holy Spirit to fill our empty vessels and to fill us with the Holy Spirit. We are not to ask the Holy Spirit just to fill to the brim, but we need to ask the Spirit to fill us to “overflowing” so that the Spirit can spill out of us and begin to touch others. Once we are filled to overflowing, we are now ready for the daily battles that come our way – and we fight it not with our power or might but with the Spirit. It is only through us dying to ourselves and asking the Holy Spirit to fill us, that we will we be ready to face the day and whatever battles may come our way.
Question: Have you armored yourself today with God armor, God's Word and the filling to overflow of the Spirit? Do you need to release anything that you have been trying to do in your own power or might?

Pass It On

2010-02-02T13:19:00.001-08:00

" We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done." Psalm 78:4

As I wake up this morning and look outside, I see clouds and rain, but I know that there is joy and sunshine that is in my heart today. It is brought about by digging deeper in God’s Word in my morning devotions. Deep within me, there is a sound like a resounding bell that is going off, for I know the truth that I hear in today’s scripture. It is all about not keeping what I have learned in this lifetime, but it is to pass it on to the next generation. There is a new generation of leaders being raised up today, that are being mentored so that they will be ready for the passing on of the baton of leadership. This new generation is full of passionate, spirit-filled men and women, to lead the nations – to lead a nation to be God Centered. It is my responsibility, as in Titus, to teach those in the next generation, so it may be passed on. This scripture this morning is confirmation that I do need to tell the next generation and share of all the wonderful things He has done! The words keep coming to me, “pass it on” and pour as much as I can to those that come after me. May God bless this next generation, for they have a big job ahead of them! I am thinking that the teaching opportunities that are coming up this month and next, that this is my opportunity to do what scriptures days, to pour out into the next generation, all the marvels and wonders of our God – and to pass it on!

Question: What are you doing to pour into the next generation? What do you have to pass on?

Let it Go!

2010-01-26T10:57:00.001-08:00

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

I have always loved birds, even when I was a little girl. For a period of 12 years of my single life, my best companion was my peach-faced lovebird. Her name was Millie and I raised her by hand. I would feed her every 4 hours with an eye dropper and we bonded. She was the best companion for me and I learned so much about birds and their habits. When I would be troubled, I would have her on my shoulder and she would look up at me with her little black eyes and it seemed she would absorb my worries and cares! She never would complain, for Millie would just take one day at a time. Even at the end of her life, she had developed a tumor in her abdomen and it was not treatable. At times you could see she was very uncomfortable and yet, she never complained. She would take one day at a time and deal with life on a daily basis. This is what scripture is telling me this morning, to focus on today and what needs to be done today – forget about what is coming tomorrow or what is around the corner. I believe God wants me to deal with the “here and now” and that includes not looking back at the past. I have seen many people that live in the past and cannot live in the present. The opposite is also true, I see many people that are always looking at what’s next, what is tomorrow going to bring. They too are not living in today. I recall that I was having a meeting with a lady that had so many problems and she was trying to deal with them all at one time. I reminded her that you cannot deal with it all in one day, so to begin with deciding what she could deal with in one day and what was the most pressing thing she had to deal with now. This helped her stop her focusing on tomorrow and all that needed to be done – that is called “worry”. She let all the future problems go out of her mind and she began to focus on what needed to be done today. It was really freeing for her and she realized that she was carrying much on her shoulders. I am using this example in a teaching I will give, “Let it Go”, at the Equipping and Empowering Night on February 12th at my church. One point that I need to stress to everyone is to live in the present and deal with only what needs to be dealt with today. This is what scripture tells me and mostly to not worry. God has everything under control.

Question: Do you have worry in your life? What do you need to let go?

Tangles Ropes of Sin

2010-01-23T17:00:00.001-08:00

"For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins;they are ropes that catch and hold him."(Proverbs 5:21-22)

As I went into my devotions today, when I read that the “ropes will catch and hold” the evil man, I went,“WOW”. Many times when I have prayed for people in the healing & deliverance ministry sessions, I have seen in the spiritual realm, these same ropes but I described them as looking like “spider webs” of sin. When I saw this photo this morning when doing my search, it was exactly what I was seeing behind people that connected them to the enemy!! Oh those tangled webs we weave when we begin to walk our own path and do things our way. We can get so misguided and begin to not rely on God and follow His way. Staying grounded everyday is my task, to come before God and repent of being so selfish and self motivating in my actions and deeds. I need God to get my heart right and cut those ropes of sin so I can be free, so my heart is lined up with the Father’s Heart and His Will. Let it not be my will, but His will be done.I no longer want to get tangled in the ropes of sin but to be set free, by the blood of Jesus!

Question: Are you tangled in ropes of sin? What is one thing that you can let go that is connecting you to this world?

Lose your Life for Jesus!

2010-01-20T10:43:00.001-08:00

Mark 8:34-38 (New International Version)

34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37 Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."
So many thoughts and ideas are swirling around in my head this morning. The need for me to stop making myself the center of everything but to get emptied out of ME and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I need this DAILY! I just cannot cling to me and how important I am – for I am really not very important in the whole scheme of things! I am like a little ant on the sidewalk of life and then I think of how HUGE God is, the Creator of the Universe, and it puts it in a better perspective. I think about my short little lifetime and compare it to eternity with God. My life is just a blink of an eye. I think of all the times I was offended because someone said something not nice or their actions were hurtful and then I realize that I am giving way more importance to my feelings than I should. So, what do feelings have to do with it anyway? I think about this verse today and how Jesus says very clearly, that we are to lose our lives! It is about picking up our cross and walking with it, daily. It is about making God bigger than ourselves and knowing that He IS greater than i and I need to “let it go” – let go of all sense of self and begin to lift up God as bigger, stronger, more powerful than I am.
Question: Are you making yourself bigger than you should? What can you do to make yourself smaller and God bigger in your life?

Loving Others

2010-01-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

Luke 6:27-36
27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Loving the unloveable is a tough job! It is easy to love those that are kind, generous, humble, gentle in spirit but what about those that are mean, nasty, unfair, unkind and down right rude? I learned that hurting people hurt others. It doesn’t make the hurt go away, but it helps to try to understand their motives. Many times when we have done individual prayer sessions and we go back to traumatic events and hurts of the past we begin to look at the circumstances that surround the person but also to look at the key players in the event. When we look at the persons that were the perpetrators, they are often ones that were hurt themselves and really didn’t know any better. It is helpful to have the victim understand that, for it is easier to forgive the person if you know that they were hurt and in such pain that was why they had to act out those aggressive acts. It was not about the victim but it was about the person acting out their own hurts. It does not excuse the act itself, but it helps in the healing process and in forgiving the person. Jesus forgave those that condemned him, beat him, mocked him, nailed him to the cross and put him to death. And STILL, as he hung on the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”. How much more can we forgive our enemies and those that have hurt us? Jesus is our model to true forgiveness of others. Every time I hold onto feelings of bitterness or resentment and I feel justified that I was right, then I hold bitterness in my heart and it gives the enemy a foothold. If I release it all then I am not allowing the enemy in. May I always remember how Jesus handled persecution and to not hold onto anything.

Question: Are you holding onto any bitterness or resentment? Is there anyone you need to forgive?

Being a Christian is Like Being a Pumpkin

2009-10-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

I got an email the other day and this saying was on it. I was amazed at how true this is, so I wanted to share it with all of you!

"Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

I totally agree with this, for we ALL are from that same earthly patch and how grateful I am that God lifts us out of the dirt and cleans us up!

Question: Have you gone through the pumpkin patch process in your life? Is God's light shining brightly for all to see? If not, what can you do about it?

The Core of Living - Love

2009-10-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited." Romans 12:14-16

Getting to the core of living through Romans 12 is the lesson for today. Just as we see in the center of the peach, that is the essence of the fruit, the core. That is what I am to glean from today’s scriptures, on how I need to get back to the core of living by learning to love one another. Loving one another is evident from all of chapter 12 in Romans but look at how we are to treat those that persecute us! We are to bless them and not curse them. We are to come along side of those that are having tough times and we are just to live in HARMONY with one another. The essence, or the core of our lives should be LOVE. We are to love one another more than ourselves.I am to look within myself today and ask, what is in my core? Is there self? Is there love for others that people can see as the fruit of my life? I want to live that, every second of my day. May God take away anything that is not of him and replace it with the fruit of the spirit – love! I want my core to be love and not self!

Question: What is in your core?

Spirit of Fear

2009-09-07T14:26:00.001-07:00

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15 (NIV)

This was an amazing scripture that I got today in my daily devotions because in my ministry time yesterday, our teaching topic was on “Fear”. How amazing that emotion is. Just as God made the flowers above, there are some flowers that appear fresh and beautiful and others seem weak and wilting. The difference in the two flowers is like people – one is blooming as God intended due to their trust and faith in God and the other is wilting because they are under the opression of FEAR. We can either accept a lie that the enemy has given us or we can choose to release it and trust in God.
Yesterday I saw three women set free from “fear” in our ministry time and it was huge. I was so excited about what happened and it blew me away as how to the Holy Spirit brought up the fear in the lives of God's precious women and how each one began to repent, renounce and break the fear that was over them. God is so good and showing them that the enemy was stealing their peace by having the "Spirit of Fear" – sucking the life out of them. When we feel fear we need to realize it is not a Fruit of the Spirit but it is coming directly from the enemy. That is his weapon to steal, kill and destroy the peace in our lives!

Question: Are you experiencing fear in your life? Begin to release that fear in your life by asking the Holy Spirit to show you a lie that you believe, then ask God to forgive you for not trusting Him and ask that "Spirit of Fear" to be released in your life. God wants to set you free from fear today!

Pit-Dwelling?

2009-07-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

Psalm 34
A psalm of David, regarding the time he pretended to be insane in front of Abimelech, who sent him away.

"I will praise the Lord at all times.
I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord;
let all who are helpless take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness;
let us exalt his name together." Psalm 34:1-3

I have heard people say,”Praise the Lord” when something good happens. My thought today is that it does not only have to be during the good times in our lives. Read the 2nd verse where it says, “let all who are helpless take heart”. Don’t you think it odd that the first verse is about praising God and the second is about being lifted up from a state of helplessness? It is not by chance, for it is what I have read about in many books on prayer. It is called the “power of praise”. No matter how far down in the pit that you are, no matter what you are facing in life, we are to praise the Lord. Begin to praise Him and thank him for all the things that are good in your life and what He has blessed you with...eyes, hands, feet and do not focus on the pit that surrounds you and what you don't have. When you begin to praise Him, worship Him and sing your heart of love for your God, then you will begin to see light and often find yourself outside the pit, not looking down!

Question: Are you having a pit dwelling experience? Begin to thank God for the good things in your life, for there are many. Start today!

At His Gates - Listening, Watching and Waiting

2009-06-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

"Happy are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life and wins approval from me outside my home!" Proverbs 8:34-35 Proverbs (NLT)

As soon as I read these verses, I got the most wonderful visual of what the Lord was saying. I saw a country cottage with a fence outside. Then I found this picture and thought how perfect it was to illustrate the verses. As I reflected on the scripture a few words spoke to me. The first was, "How often am I to seek the Lord?" The verse is quite clear, it said "daily". Then, "How does the Lord want me to seek Him?"

The scripture says to "listen", "watch" and "wait". Those three words were magnified for me. I realized that I need to listen to God and I am to seek Him daily in His Word. God can speak to me through scripture and the Holy Spirit will magnify it and it will come to life. The living Word will show me how God wants me to live my life and will show me His way. I am to go to that country cottage and stand at His gates and listen, watch and wait. I thought of the example of people standing outside the gates of the rich and famous, waiting for the perfect moment for the celebrity to make an appearance. That is how I am supposed to anticipate the Lord speaking to me and He can do it in many ways. He can speak through His Word, people, circumstances, worship and nature. All I have to do is to be standing at the gate in anticipation for Him to make an appearance!

Question: Are you daily waiting at the Lord's gate for Him to make an appearance? What can you do today to get to that country cottage and listen, watch and wait?

Focus on Jesus

2009-06-11T16:16:00.001-07:00

"Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples." 1 Chronicles 16:23-24

As I read this verse today, I thought about all the times when I didn't feel like praising God because of the trials or unpleasant circumstances that surrounded me. I began to meditate on this and realized that my praising God is not based on the circumstances in my life. Let not the circumstances of life dictate the circumstances of your heart. Then, I had a lady in my bible study tell me that in New York there are carriages that are pulled by horses. These horses wear blinders on their eyes so that they are not distracted. Since they are in traffic there are many distractions all around them and the blinders will cut them out. I thought about how that illustration is like in our lives when we too can get distracted from our spiritual journey by all the circumstances that surround us. Then another lady shared with me Habakkuk 3:17-18:

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior."

So I am to be like that horse, and put the blinders up on my eyes and not focus on the troubles in my life, but keep my focus on Jesus! I want my focus to be on Him and not on myself. He deserves the praises for not what He does, but because of who He is.

Question: Are you in some trying times right now and need to be rescued? Take your eyes off your circumstances and focus on the Lord. He is the one that will rescue you and sustain you, no matter what circumstances surround you.

The Freeway of Life

2009-06-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Lamentations 3:40 (New Living Translation)
" Instead, let us test and examine our ways.
Let us turn back to the Lord."

Have you ever gotten lost on a freeway? Have you every found yourself in a place where you had not intended to go? It is like that in our daily spiritual journey in life. How easy it is to lose focus and begin to drift away from God and then we may realize that we need to stop and examine ourselves, to see if we are going in the right direction.

This scripture really spoke to me today! Drifting away...loosing focus....taking the wrong freeway exit...finding yourself in a place that you know you are lost! I think of the times when I have gone on road trips in my car and had to navigate myself around and not knowing where I was going. I recall a time when I did a house exchange with a lady from San Francisco. I spent two weeks in her home and she spent two weeks in mine. It was amazing. I had a rental car and I would venture out in the car to unfamiliar places. I would get up in the morning and look at my map and figure out where I was going and write down all the directions, paying close attention to the major freeway exits. I planned a road trip to San Jose and I mapped my route and had it all written down. I got in the car and after about 30 minutes I was driving with confidence. I began to not pay attention and began driving in the “cruise mode". Then before I knew it, I saw an exit and thought," I think that is my exit". I did not look at my written directions, but used my memory to guide me. So I took an immediate exit and after a few minutes I realized that I was in a neighborhood that was totally wrong. It was scary because I was lost and I had to find my way back to the freeway. I did a few turns and eventually got back on the freeway. I consulted the written notes and realized that I took an exit that had a similar word in it but it was not the exact exit. A few exits after that, the correct one came up. My course was corrected and I was on my way to San Jose.

Isn’t that like our spiritual walk? We can be doing “life” and be in the cruise mode and not be paying attention. We may not be intentional and can become complacent. Then, we may find ourselves lost because we have not been checking our life road map (God’s Word) and have taken the wrong exit. It is getting to that point when we realize that we are lost and need to return. We can get back through finding the right freeway entrance. I know that I can prevent taking the wrong exit by staying on course, staying in God’s Word daily and to follow His map of life. I cannot get in the cruise mode or I will miss it. Just as this scripture says, we need to stop and examine where we are at, and if that is not where we need to be, make the correction and Turn Back to the Lord!

Question: Are you in God's Word daily to know the right direction in your life? Stop for just a few minutes and reflect on where you are in your spiritual journey and ask if you need to make a course correction.