Choose Your Perspective

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

 

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

" 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

”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

 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

 

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

 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

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

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

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?