No Condemnation

Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" 

One of my favorite chapters in the book of Romans is chapter 8.  Something I found very interesting, that really opened my eyes to winning over condemnation, was that the word Spirit appears 21 times.  Wow!  I don't believe the Holy Spirit puts anything in the Word by accident.  

In Romans 7, Paul talks about overcoming the flesh, and the word Spirit doesn't even appear once.  It only mentions the word spirit as in a good attitude, but not Spirit as in the Holy Spirit.  The word flesh simply means, what you see or perceive with your senses, your negative emotions. 

We win over condemnation when we walk after the Spirit.  When we walk after what the Word says about us.  When we walk not after our flesh, our senses and negative emotions.    When we know who we are in Christ.  

For God sent NOT his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved (John 3:17).  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more (John 8:10-11). 

So when condemnation comes, remember, it's not from God.  There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.  If you're in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.  Period.  

Cloud Nine

1 John 4:17 - "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is so are we in this world" 

According to the International Cloud Atlas, which defined ten types of clouds, the ninth type of cloud is a cumulonimbus, which rises over six miles, the highest a cloud can be.  Hence the phrase, "floating on cloud nine"…or a state of bliss, happiness, elation, and euphoria.  

Cloud nine seems pretty awesome, huh.  Well here's nine words that are even more amazing - "As He is so are we in this world".  Those are the nine words I wake up saying every morning.  Notice the verse doesn't say "as He was" or "as we will be".  It says, "as He is", right now, present tense, "so are we". 

Let me ask you a question, is Jesus healthy?  Of course He is.  As He is so are you.  Is Jesus worried today?  No.  As He is so are you.  Is Jesus poor?  No.  As He is so are you.  Is Jesus righteous?  Yes.  As He is so are you.  In your born again spirit, you are wall to wall Holy Spirit.  When the Father looks at you, He sees Jesus.    

These are the most powerful nine words in all the universe.  As you say them out  loud, you are declaring that everything that Jesus IS right at this moment, is released into your life.  Into your marriage.  Into your business.  Into your body.  Cloud nine?  It's no match to the "1 John 4:17 nine"!  

God's Grace Graph

Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him" 

If you followed the news recently, you may have heard about the sudden shift in the stock market.  How it skyrocketed for twelve months, and then a few weeks ago declined at a rapid rate.  When it was going up people were up.  When it went down, some commentators were reporting that the "sky was falling"!  Well guess what, it started back up again. 

I want to ask you a very important question…is your view of God's love for you up some days and down the next?  If it were charted on a graph, how would it look?  Perhaps after a great church service, you feel God's love for you is "up".  Then you do something you shouldn't have, and you feel God's love for you is "down".  Then you read your Bible, and you feel like God really loves you!  Then you don't read your Bible one day, and your graph shows a decline.  Here's some good news.  God's love for you is constant.  It never changes.  Your behavior does not change God's love for you.  

Romans 5:8 says "But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us".  Then in verse nine it says, "Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him".  In other words, before you were saved, as a sinner, God's grace abounded toward you.  How "much more then", after you were saved, did His grace super abound toward you. That's really big.  

Fix your eyes on His love for you, not on your performance or behavior.  His love for you is unshakable and immovable.  When you do, you remain stable, settled and strong no matter how you "feel".  No more up one day, and down the next.  God's grace graph is always the same…love, love, love.   

No Sweat!

Ezekiel 44:17-18 " When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within.  They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat." ESV

According to this scripture, the Old Testament priests were forbidden from entering the inner court wearing anything that might cause them to sweat.  Jesus is saying the same thing to us today, when we yoke ourselves together with Him, no sweat! (Matthew 11:28-30)

If there is an area in your life where you don't see the manifestation of God's promises, perhaps it's because you have not cast your care on the Lord.  Instead, you're on your own, sweating it out, and worrying about it.  He wants us to wear "linen turbans" on our heads, or in other words, keep our "minds" free of worry and care (sweat!).

Every time the enemy comes to you and demands, "What are you going to do about that?", what's your response?  Or when the accuser comes to shake you up about a situation on the job, or about your child, or your marriage, our your mortgage payment?

Here's what you need to say, "I'm not going to worry about this!  Jesus already made a way for this to work out".  Remember, before Jesus redeemed us from sin at the cross, before He was scourged for our diseases, He first shed His blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.  In Luke 22:44, it says that Jesus sweat great drops of blood from His brow.  He redeemed us from stress and anxiety in our minds!  Hallelujah!  He redeemed us from every oppressive thought and lie that tries to torture us.  So start today, let your response to every anxious thought be, "No sweat!"

I Wanna Hold Your Hand

Isaiah 41:13 "For I the Lord thy God will hold thy hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee" 

It seems like yesterday that my whole family would gather around our TV in our basement every Sunday night to watch the Ed Sullivan show.  Anyone with a TV set was doing the exact same thing, all across America.  On one particular Sunday night in February of that year, a band from England rocked the nation with their new hit called I Wanna Hold Your Hand.  The band…the Beatles.  

In Isaiah 41:13, the prophet Isaiah says "For I the Lord thy God will hold thy hand".  How many of you know that a child holding on to a mother's hand is never as secure as when the mother holds the child's hand. I would always grab hold of my daughter's hand when she was young, when we were in a store or at some kind of event.  I held her hand tighter and more secure than she held mine. 

I want you to encourage you, you're not holding on to God's hand, God is holding on to your hand, and He'll never let go. The verse says "I will hold your hand, fear not".   When God holds your hand, there's nothing to be afraid of.  Even when we are weak, His hand is strong. Hallelujah!  Do you feel weak today?  He's holding on to you. 

You might ask, "What about Psalm 51 where it says, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me"?  David prayed that because he was under a dispensation where the Holy Spirit would come upon you, and the Holy Spirit would go.  As a born again believer, the Holy Spirit lives and abides in you, and will never leave you, ever, no matter what. That's good news for us today.  Let that sink in.  Rest and be secure in His love for you. He will never let go.

God Works the Night Shift

Psalm 127:1-2 "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it, unless the Lord guards the city the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early or retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors ; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep" 

We have a family friend that works from 12 midnight to 8 in the morning.  How different it must be for them to go to work while everyone else is going to sleep.  There are multitudes of people in hospitals, the airlines, the military, and factories that are working while we're sleeping.  God made our bodies with an inner clock that prompts us to sleep at night while it's dark.  It must be quite an effort for them to adjust their normal sleep patterns.  

Psalm 127 may be my favorite Psalm, because the writer, Solomon, received wisdom from God when he was sleeping.  After all, what can be more restful than sleeping.  Here's an encouraging word for people who work all day and night…unless God builds your business, you labor in vain.  Do you believe that?  If you're going to bed late, waking up early, can't sleep, and are full of worry and anxiety, it is in vain!  "Painful labors" is a Hebrew idiom for worry.  

"He gives to His beloved even in his sleep".  While you sleep, God goes out ahead of you and prepares things for the coming day.  God works the night shift!  While you're sleeping, He's working.  Then as dawn breaks, everything's ready for you. So, how should you wake up every morning?  Thanking God, and saying "I can't wait to see the day You have prepared for me!"  God is saying to all of us, "Don't believe everything depends on you!"  Let's let God work behind the scenes on our behalf, day and night.  

Fix or Facts by Natalie Fortunato

James 1:14 - "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed" 

Some of you might remember a song from the early 70's called If Loving You is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right).  It's a song about a man that's in love with a woman, but he's married, and the woman he's in love with is not his wife!  For some reason, that title has always stuck with me.  I guess it's because I've seen it play out over and over again in people's lives.  They know that something's totally wrong for them, but they want it anyway.   

Are you holding on to or involved in something that you know is not good for you, but you want it anyway?  Are you holding on to something that's hurting you, but you think that letting go will hurt even more?  If yes, then you have a choice to make, do you want a fix or the facts?  

A fix: when you take matters into your own hands, and try to satisfy your desires your way.  When you do things, and won't allow God to do them for you, in His way and in His time. When you decide what's best.  When you answer your own prayers.     

The facts: When you surround yourself with people who will tell you the truth from God's Word, and you make yourself accountable to them.  When you know who you are in Christ and find your value and identity in Him. When you stick to what God has told you to do, no matter what.  

A fix or facts.  You choose.  (Choose facts!)

Trust Now, Understand Later

John 13 :7 " What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand" 

Much of the Christian life is spent trusting Jesus now and understanding later. Jesus typically doesn't always explain on the front end why He is doing something the way He is doing it. Like Peter, when something looks wrong to us, we are tempted to go against the Lord's will.  God wants us to trust Him.  During those times when we don't understand, we need to remember Jesus' words to Peter, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand". 

Peter had grown used to Jesus doing and saying unpredictable things, but in the context of John 13:7, the way Peter saw it, Jesus washing the disciples feet was just plain wrong.  He believed Jesus was the last person in the room who should be washing feet, that was a house servant's job, a non-Jew.  People traveled in sandals, their feet were smelly, dirty and came in contact with things the law declared unclean.    

Here's the twist.  Under the law the unclean makes the clean, unclean.  But under grace, the clean makes the unclean, clean.  Jesus washed the disciples feet, when it should have been Peter down washing the feet of Jesus.  It looked like it was all backwards.  Peter didn't understand in the now, but he would later.

Today you may not understand what God is doing in your life, but trust Him, you'll understand later.  Follow the example in His Word, listen to that still small voice that says "This is the way, walk ye in it" (Isaiah 30:21). Remember this simple truth, God is good, all the time. When your down to nothing, God is up to something!  Something good.  

Step Into Peace

Mark 5:34 "and He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague" 

Imagine being healed of a blood disorder after 12 years of going to every doctor you could find, spending every penny had, and things just getting worse.  Just like that, one encounter with Jesus and she was instantly healed.  What happened next?  He said to her "Go in peace", or in the original Greek, "Go into peace".  This is really important.  Jesus wasn't bidding her farewell.  He was telling her to step into the realm of peace, the way you would step into a house. 

You might be going through a prolonged season of challenges where nothing you have done seems to work. Perhaps you are dealing with a chronic condition.  Or maybe you’re a single parent struggling to make ends meet. Or possibly you have done all that you can to mend a broken relationship, but all your efforts have come up short.  

Jesus is inviting you to receive grace for your situation, step out of your place of fear, worry, and anxiety, and step into the realm of peace.  Peace is a key component to keeping what grace has given through the finished work of the cross.  Grace and peace always go together, as seen in so many of Paul's epistles.  So, go ahead, receive your victory, and step into peace, it will change the course of your life.  

God Has Seen Your Future, and He Says It's GOOD!

Isaiah 54:2  "Enlarge the place of your tent, and stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes" 

Picture your favorite, amazing vacation spot.  Remember when you saw it for the first time?  You got all wide-eyed, and filled with awe.  Then how about when you brought your friends there.  You couldn't wait to see their faces.  You almost enjoyed  the anticipation of their reaction more than actually being there.  

That's the way God feels about your future, specifically, this coming year.  He has seen it, and He wants you to know that it's GOOD!  That's good news.  When God declares your future is bright, it will be awesome.  

Now what?  Start preparing.  Before the increase comes, before the expansion comes, He wants you to enlarge the place that you are in and stretch yourself in every way.  Expand your vision.  Expand your expectations.  Expand your imagination.  Expand your thinking. 

If you're seeking a new job, get your resume together.  If you want to have a child, make some room.  If you want to go back to school, apply.  If you want to write a cookbook, gather your recipes and create new ones.  If you want to save 10% of your income, open a designated bank account.  Take action steps toward your desires and see God work on your behalf. 

Family, God wants you to get ready and expect such favor and increase in the days ahead.  Expect to see good things happen to you.  Expect to see the commanded blessing on you and your family.  Expect many good days.  Yes, have a HAPPY new year!

Immanuel - GOD with us

Matthew 1:23 - "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." 

The prophecy in this verse, when fulfilled, would change the course of history.  Never before had God walked "with" His creation.  He came "upon" them in the old covenant, but never "with" them.  "A virgin shall be with child", that's impossible!  Not when that child has been conceived by the Holy Ghost.  "She shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Immanuel, God with us".  That's why this prophecy brought  such great joy.  The Messiah had come to deliver His people.  God had not forgotten them. This is awesome!  

For the first time ever, God took the form of a man, and walked among His people, healing the sick, raising the dead, delivering the oppressed.  The Word became flesh.  But when Jesus died on the cross, did God "leave us"?  Did His works come to an end?  No!  

Through His death, Jesus destroyed the separation between God and man, once and for all.  Then, on the day of Pentecost God sent the Holy Spirit to live and abide in every believer, and He has never left!  Imagine that, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, communes with you, works in you to will and to do of His pleasure.  GOD lives in you.  Wow!    

Which Side of the Fence Are You On?

1 Timothy 1:8-10 "But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for……." 

When I was a kid, the house I grew up in had a back yard with a fence around it.  It was really cool to climb over that fence to get around the neighborhood.  I'd save a few minutes just by running and putting both hands on top of the fence and catapulting over to the other side.  Key words…"when I was a kid"! 

I want you to get this today from 1 Timothy 1:8-10.  THE LAW IS NOT FOR YOU, THE BELIEVER!  You've been made righteous in Christ.  The law is not applicable to someone who is under grace. The law is for unrighteous people, unbelievers who have not yet received Jesus. Its purpose is to bring them to the end of themselves and to help them realize that they need a Savior. 

Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3:24-25, "therefore the law is our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."  The law shows unbelievers that, in and of themselves, they will never be able to reach God's perfect standards.  The law leads people to depend on Jesus, who justifies and makes us righteous through the finished work of the cross!  

I am all for the law, but only for the reason God gave the law, to point us to Jesus.  The law was never designed for man to keep, but to bring us where we belong…on the side of the fence that is safe, blessed, prosperous, and effortless…the side of grace.

Never, Never Land

Hebrews 13:5-6 - "…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." 

In the popular children's story Peter Pan, there is an imaginary place that is so ideal and perfect called Neverland.  As believers, we too have an ideal "Never" land of our own.  In fact, it's a "Never, Never" land.  The only difference, it's not imaginary, it's real.  

As described in Hebrews 3:5, it's a place in Christ that God promises to never leave us.  Never.  When things are going great, He's with us.  When things are falling apart, He's with us.  When we are doing everything "right", He's with us.  When we're doing everything "wrong", He's with us.  

He said it twice, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you", meaning never, never.  God is saying to us in the strongest possible way, that He will never ever leave us or forsake us.  

Still not convinced, look at this verse in the Amplified Bible:  "…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]" 

No matter what is happening in your life today, God is with you.  Living and abiding in you.  Even if you have turned your back on Him, He will never, never leave you.  He doesn't come and go based on your performance or behavior.  He is committed to you.  He loves you.  

The Lord Saves. The Lord Saves.

1 Samuel 14:6 "Then Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few.” 

Yahweh, the Lord saves!  He saves us from our addictions.  From our bad habits.  He saved us from sin.  He saves us from getting in further trouble.  One of the greatest things about salvation is, the Lord saves us from ourselves  From our bad decisions, our mess ups, our mistakes. Grace is giving you victory in your time of trouble!  

Every day you need to know the Lord saves.  The Lord is the name of JESUS, Yeshua!   What area of your life needs saving right now?  You might say "I don't  need saving, I've got things under control".  Fine, you're on your own.  But if you say, "I need help", the Lord will save.  He loves to save, saving is what He does best. 

In 1 Samuel 14:4 it says, "there was a sharp rock on one side and a sharp rock on the other side".  Jonathon and his armor bearer were "caught between a rock and a hard place".  There were 30,000 Philistines that came and surrounded the whole area.  

It says in verse 16 that their enemy was "uncircumcised".  That's covenant language, meaning God was not with them.  But like Jonathan, God is with us.  On your job, in your family, in your marriage, in every area of life, why should you be like the people of the world?  You must have this attitude, we are God's people!  

Maybe you feel like you're between a rock and a hard place.  Or perhaps surrounded by an impossible situation today.  The Lord saves by few or by many.  He's not moved by the odds against you.  He's not looking at your bills or your bank account.  He's not reading over the doctor's report and saying "What shall I do now?"   Our verse today says, "He will work for us".  While you're resting He's working!  The Lord not only saved you, He saves you in every situation.  

Did You Miss the Parade? by Natalie Fortunato

Colossians 2:15 - "Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" 

What a great time we had at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade many years ago.  Getting up before dawn, taking the train into the city, loading up on hot chocolate, bundled up and standing street-side along the parade route.  Made some great memories.  Loved it! 

As awesome as it was, there is no match for the greatest parade in history.   When God disarmed Satan and all principalities and powers, making a show of them openly!  What a triumph.  What a victory.  Satan is defeated.  It is finished. 

Yet there are Christians still engaging in "spiritual warfare".  If you're still engaging in spiritual warfare, you must have missed the parade!  Warfare is between two undefeated foes.  Every time you say you are "warring" against the devil, you are declaring that he is on equal status with you.  He's not!  Satan was defeated by the blood of Jesus on the cross.  You won.  You have dominion over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19).  

There's a battle raging, but it's not with Satan.  It's between your two ears.  "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" 2 Corinthians 10:4-5  

To the obedience of Christ.  Not our obedience.  His obedience made us righteous.  His obedience made us victorious.  His obedience defeated the enemy once and for all.  You're not trying to get the victory, it's already yours!

Are You Plugged In?

John 15:5  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." 

Jesus said , "Without Me you can do nothing".  Wait, there are people all around us that are doing a lot of things without Jesus.  They work hard, they accomplish some big things, so what did Jesus mean?  Only what is done for Christ will last forever. What He meant is, apart from Him, you can do nothing of value, of substance, of eternal consequence of permanency that has results in this life and the life after. 

The other day I was trying to troubleshoot a problem with my freezer.  I spoke with someone on the phone, and the first thing they asked is, "Is there any power?  Was it plugged in?"  Very important, huh.  I ask you the same question today.  Are you plugged in to your power Source?  Just like your electric company, they are providing the power, but unless you "plug in" to that source, you are cut off.  

Galatians  5:4 in the NASB says, "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace".  Or in other words, you have fallen from the higher ground you fell from.  In the new covenant, grace is high ground.  Grace is heavenly, grace is where God is. How does someone fall from grace?  By sinning?  Nope!  You can't find a verse in the New Testament that says when you sin, you fall from grace. 

So how do you fall from grace?  By seeking the law, works, trying to be righteous on your own merit.  You don't lose your salvation, but the moment you start living by the law, you cut yourself off from the grace supply.  Christ is of no effect, you're not plugged in to God's unlimited supply.  Jesus is grace.  Get plugged into grace and don't unplug, stay connected.  Apart from the unmerited, undeserved favor of God, you can do nothing!

Grace Delivery System

Mark 5:27 - "When she had heard of Jesus..."

It's about that time of year when we begin to see a lot more Fedex and UPS trucks on the road making deliveries for the holidays.  In fact, according to Fortune Magazine, for the first time in history, there are more shoppers going to the web, rather than to an actual store to make their purchases. Which is why it's no surprise that drone delivery testing efforts are "on the rise".   That's right.  The next time you order a new pair of shoes, they might just arrive by drone.  Did you know that God has a delivery system to get things to you in your life?  It's called the "grace delivery system".

In Mark 5: 27 there's a powerful and revealing story of a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years.  It was an incurable disease, which cost her every penny she had in doctor bills, yet it got worse and worse.  Then one day she heard about Jesus.  She heard of the great things He had said and done.  As soon as she heard, her miracle began.    

Notice it didn't say she heard Jesus herself.  The Word says she heard of Jesus. Great things happen in the lives of others when you talk about Jesus.  You don't need to preach.  You don't need a degree in theology.  Just start talking about Jesus.  Share your testimony.  Share the good things He has done for you.

What did she hear? It wasn't the law, because the law said that a woman with a running issue of blood was considered unclean and had to stay separated from people.  What she heard was the grace and unmerited favor of God.  She knew that if she just touched the hem of Jesus' garment she would be whole.

Today, when we hear the Word, we can receive our miracle when that Word is planted in the fertile soil of our heart.  Just by hearing the good news of the Gospel, the "grace delivery system" can bring you what belongs to you in your blood bought covenant.  Expect your miracle like you expect your online purchase to arrive at your door.  It's yours, receive it.

You Get an A+

Jeremiah 23:6 "In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" 

When I was in high school, I was a pretty average student.  In my senior year, one of my favorite classes was Physics with Miss Obrupta.  Miss Obrupta was a an older woman who never married, and was quite content teaching her beloved Physics.  She was the nicest teacher I ever had in high school.  I guess you could say that, in her class I was the "teacher's pet".  When she gave us a test, if I didn’t know the answer (which was quite often), I would go to Miss Obrupta's desk and ask "What does this question mean?" or "What type of an answer are you looking for?".  Sure enough, she would give me the exact answer to the question.  Not fair you might say, and your probably right. 

In Jeremiah 23:6, one of the names of God is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  This is speaking of Jesus in the new covenant.  In other words, Jesus "passed all the law tests" on our behalf.  His righteousness has become ours.  He got an A+ in law class.  And here's more great news.  He took the test on our behalf, we don't have to take it!  He got an A+, we get an A+.    Romans 8:4 says "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us".  Because Jesus is our righteousness, you and I qualify for all of the blessings of the law but not the curses.  That's truly awesome. 

You see Miss Obrupta liked me, she favored me, she gave me undeserved answers.  Jesus has given you and I undeserved, unearned, and unmerited favor.  Don't worry, stop studying the law, you received you’re A+.  Study grace.  Jesus made you righteous.  Rest. Enjoy.  

Toes, Heels, Soles

Joshua 1:3 "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said to Moses" 

There's basically three types of people that I have met in life.  First, people that walk on the toes of their feet.  Second, people that walk on the heels of their feet. And third, people that walk on the soles of their feet. 

People that walk on the toes of their feet tip toe through life, like the teenager who walks in two hours after curfew, and his dad is sitting on the Lazyboy in the living room waiting for him.  He tip toes in because of fear.  Fear causes people to walk on "egg shells", afraid of situations, people and challenges.

 People that walk on their heels are those who are ready to go backward at the first sign of opposition.  If it doesn't happen immediately they assume, "Well I guess it wasn't God".  A little wind can push them back into neutral.

People that walk on their heels are those who are ready to move forward at a moment's notice.  They are well balanced.  They walk with confidence of "knowing the One in whom they believe".  

The key for Joshua is that four times God instructs him to "be strong and of a good courage".  Under God's grace we know that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.  When we are weak then He is strong. Whatever you're facing today…financial hardship, pain inyour body, a child who's not acting right…, "walk on the soles of your feet".  Press toward the mark with confidence in God's Word, toward the victory that is already yours in Christ, waiting for you to receive it.  Toes, heels, soles…you get to choose.   

Fraud Alert

Daniel 1:7 " To them the chief of the eunuchs gave names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-Nego". 

Earlier this year, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service reported that "stolen identity" is America's fastest growing crime.  Great measures are being implemented in identity theft protection, fraud alert, and identity victim assistance. 25 years ago we never even heard of "fraud alert"!  Still don't know what it is?  It's a message that notifies potential credit grantors to verify your identification before extending credit in your name. 

In Daniel 1:7 the Babylonians thought they had discovered a powerful weapon against God's people. The plan…to simply change their name, and thereby change their identity!  Notice, all of the Hebrew names in Daniel 1:7 ended in "ial"  or "iel", or the name of Jehovah.  Even the Babylonians knew these names were a undeniable declaration of God's covenant with His people.  

The same thing is still happening today.  One of the biggest keys to your victory is to not let anything or anyone try and "steal" your true identity in Christ.  To name you Loser, Failure, Weak, Old, or Stupid.  Don't let anyone deceive you into thinking that you are unrighteous because of your bad choices, when Jesus has made you righteous.  Don't let anyone call you a sinner saved by grace, when Jesus became sin for you and redeemed you from the curse of sin.  You've been given and new name and a new nature.  

Jesus is the name above all names.  If you find your identity in anything other than who you are in Christ and what His Word says about you, all I can is FRAUD ALERT!  Verify your identification in Christ before you take another step!  The Word is your identity theft protection.  And one more thing, when you know who you are in Christ, you certainly won't need identity victim assistance.