I'll Be There

Judges 6:15-16 -  "So he said to Him, 'O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house'.  And the Lord said to him, 'Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man'.” 

Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 recorded a song in August, 1970 called I'll Be There.  In his autobiography Moon Walk, Michael Jackson said I'll Be There was one of the most important songs that they had ever recorded. All Music said about the song "Rarely, if ever, had one so young, sung with so much authority and grace, with wisdom and understanding far beyond his years". It was the most successful single ever released by the Jackson 5. 

Well, 5 is the number of unmerited favor and grace in the Bible. In Judges 6:15-16, it's speaking about a young man named Gideon who God had chosen to deliver all of Israel. His response when he was called?  "My family is poor in Manasseh", and did you notice, Lord? "I'm the least in my father's house". 

You see, grace flows best when we feel the weakest, the smallest, the poorest, the least qualified.  But in God's economy, He doesn’t "call the qualified", He "qualifies the called".  God loves choosing the foolish things to confound the wisdom of the world.  Him?  Her?  Are you serious? 

Great confidence rises up on the inside of you when you hear God say to you, "Surely, I will be with you".  Whatever the task is, no matter how big the situation looks, if He called you, He has promised to "be there".  He will never leave you or forsake you.  Verse 17 goes on to say, "Lord, if I have found grace…"  Grace is a person, and His name is Jesus, and He is in you.  Grace is with you in the impossible situation you are facing, rely on Him. Hear Him saying to you this week, "I'll be there". 

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

James 1:17 NIV "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" 

The grace of God can be described in two words "free gift". Everything about the grace of God is simply "the gift that keeps on giving".   Grace is always giving in every circumstance, it's a gift that never stops! 

To understand the grace of God you have to understand that life is all a gift. Health is a gift, a promotion is a gift, a love one finding his way home is a gift, life is a gift. In James 1:17, I'm so glad it says "every GOOD GIFT" and every "PERFECT GIFT".  Sickness isn’t included as a gift from God, a car accident isn’t a gift, although walking away without a scratch is a gift.  Losing your job isn’t a gift, unless very soon after you get a better job with better pay and better opportunities, that’s a gift.   

What's really great is that the Father doesn’t change, He's always "good" and His gifts are always "perfect", that’s good news. The scripture says that God is not like a "shifting shadow".  I love that because a shadow is constantly changing second by second minute by minute day by day.  His love for us is a gift that never shifts like a shadow.  His provision for us is a gift that never shifts like a shadow.  

Since Jesus is full of grace and truth, then Jesus is a gift.  Our relationship with Him is a gift.  His friendship with us is a gift.  He is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. That's great, great news to me.  It's the nearly too good to be true news.  So enjoy a life of gifts, God's grace that just keeps giving and giving and giving every day!

Out on a Limb

Mathew 14:28,29 "Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to You on the water. Come, He said, then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus" 

Anybody feel like they're living life "out on a limb"?  Taking risks?  Living on the edge?  That's great news.  Why?  Out on the limb is where the fruit is!  

In Mathew 14, the disciples were in a boat in the middle of a huge storm way off shore, and Jesus came toward them walking on the water.  The first thing He said to them was "Don't be afraid, I'm here".  Peter took one look at Jesus and said, "If that's really You, tell me to come".  Did you know that there was really very little difference between being in the boat and getting out of the boat?  A storm is a storm, no matter where you are.  But to get to Jesus or to get to the supernatural, Peter had to make a decision to do something different than what everybody else was doing. 

Jesus said, "Come!"  Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on water!  In verse 30 it says that Peter took a look around and "began to sink".  Technically speaking, he should have sunk as soon as he stepped on water.  But not Peter.  He was doing the miraculous, walking on the water, and only "began" to sink when he focused on the surrounding circumstances.  

If you "stay in the boat", you're never going to see the miracle of walking on the water.  To see the supernatural you'll have to sometimes, well…no…most of the time, take a risk. Jesus said in Ephesians 3:30, "according to the power that works in us" . God wants us to participate in our own miracle. Come on, get out on the limb, walk in the supernatural, get out where the fruit is!!

There's a Ram in the Thicket

Genesis 22:13-14 "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh [the Lord will provide]…" 

Once in a while, our dog Benny will find himself stuck halfway inside the rung of our kitchen counter stool.  We have to go and get him unstuck.  Then we find him stuck halfway under the laundry room bench.  Then the kitchen chair.  And we have to go and get him unstuck.  He's something else! 

In Genesis 22:13, it says, the ram was "caught in a thicket by his horns".  Most rams get caught in a thicket by their fur and are cut by the thorns.  But this ram had to be a without blemish or cuts of any kind to qualify as a perfect sacrifice.  It was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Hallelujah.  As Abraham went up the mountain in obedience to God's instruction, a "ram" was going up the other side of the mountain.  Glory to God!  

Here's a word from the Lord for you today.  There's a "ram in the thicket" for you in your situation.  Whatever your need is today, be encouraged, there is a "ram" going up the other side of the mountain for you.  Jesus is called "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world".  That means, before you had a problem, God had the answer.  Before you had a question, God had the answer.  Before you had a diagnosis, God already provided the healing!  So get up and dance and shout!  Lift up your eyes. God provided His Son, His only Son, for you.

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.   

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.

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.  

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!    

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.  

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.

A Blessing Going Someplace to Happen

Proverbs 10:22 "the blessing of the Lord it makes rich, and He adds no sorrow with it" 

In the 1970's, there was a very successful sitcom called What's Happening?  It took place in Los Angeles and followed the daily lives of five young people.  The show is long gone, but the phrase lives on…Hey, what's happening?" 

In Proverbs 10:22 Solomon, the writer of the proverbs says, the blessing that's ON and IN your life, IT makes rich.  Wow!  That’s awesome.  That’s encouraging.  That’s empowering!  It's not what you DO that makes your rich, it's what's ON you, the blessing.    

That means that wherever you go, whoever you meet, whosoever hand you shake, when you go food shopping, when you go to the hair dresser, you are a blessing going someplace to manifest something great.  Something healthy.  Something awesome.  

The blessing isn’t a thing, it's not a car, it's not a house, the blessing is an empowerment that touches every single area of your life.  It's something tangible, supernatural.  If you touch something it gets affected for good.  Things last longer.  You have something in you that will make you rich in every area of your life.  Your health is rich, your family is rich, your money is rich, your days are full of riches.  Job 36:11 says you spend your days in prosperity.  

So when you wake up tomorrow, see yourself rich in every way.  Look at yourself in the mirror and say, "I'm a blessing going someplace to happen".  On your way to work say, "I'm a blessing going someplace to happen".  When you walk into that classroom or appointment say, "I am a blessing going someplace to happen".   THAT'S what's happening!

Breaking Through Resistance

Philippians 3:14 "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God In Christ Jesus" 

Even a dead fish can swim downstream.  Know why? There's no resistance!  How do you respond to resistance in your life?  When you decide to live in the "high calling", you will face opposition and resistance.  "…all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" 2 Tim3:12. 

So, if there's a "high calling", there must also be a "low calling". The high calling is a life lived on earth according to heaven's standards; it's seeing the kingdom of God manifestedthrough an individual's life. People who live in the high calling control their surroundings. By staying in their authority, they change the spiritual climate around them. 

Darkness cannot overpower light, light always expels darkness.  The brighter the light, the more darkness is displaced. This is how it is when we walk in the authority of God's kingdom.  We place our surroundings under its rule.  Jesus could eat with sinners because HE controlled the atmosphere. If you are stronger in God then the unbeliever is in the devil, you will control the atmosphere.  If the sinner is more dominant  in evil than the believer is in righteousness, the unbeliever will control the atmosphere. 

Again, when you decide to live the high calling, you will face opposition.  But you've already overcome because of the finished work on the cross.  Yet many settle and live for the low calling.  Why?  They don't want to face the resistance that accompanies pressing toward the high calling.  They would rather conform to their surroundings than change them with godly confrontation.  It's much easier to blend in than to stand out. 

The word "press" signifies an aggressive mentality that refuses to give up, rather than a "passive" mentality that follows the path of least resistance.  Keep pressing forward with the Grace of God and the power of the Holy Ghost.  Greater is He that is in you than what you are facing in the world. Break through the resistance!  Press toward the mark!  Start today!

Why is it Taking So Long for God to Answer My Prayer?

Daniel 10:12  "Then he said to me, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words"' 

Day 1: Daniel prayed.  Day 10: Didn't see the answer yet.  Day 20: Still didn't see the answer.  Day 21: Angel shows up, Bam!  He sees the answer to his prayer.  Wow.  Have you ever prayed for something, and it came rather quickly, and then at other times it seems like it took a long time?  

Why does God answer some prayers in a short period of time, and some prayers in three weeks or three years?  Here's the problem with that question.  God answered your prayer the moment you prayed it.  However, we think God answered it when we see it with our own eyes.  God told Daniel, "from the first day…your words were heard, and I have come because of your words".  The variable is not God.  It says in John 4:24 that "God is Spirit", He moves instantly. 

So what happened?  In verse 13, it says, "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days".  Your faith is like a bridge from the spiritual world to the physical world.  If you quit standing in faith to see the answer to your prayer because you can't see it, you can stop the manifestation.  What if Daniel had quit on the 20th day, right before the 21st day when he got his answer?  When we pray, we must believe that the power of God is released instantly on the first day that we pray. Period.  Expect to see it, no matter how long it takes.  Don't quit.  Every day is the "20th day" until you see it!  You're "21st day" is coming.  

I'm Perfect

Colossians 3:3 "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" 

When you begin to see yourself the way God sees you, your life will never be the same again.  When you became a believer, God no longer saw you as you with your old sin nature.  When He looks at you, He sees Jesus. You are now in Christ. 

Let me give you an example: if I take a ballpoint pen, and I place it in the middle of my Bible, and close the Bible, can you see the pen now?  No.  All you can see is the Bible. The pen is now completely hidden within the pages of the Bible.  In the same way, the moment you accept Jesus as Lord of your life, you are hidden IN Christ.  When God looks at you, He doesn't see all your flaws and imperfections and failures.  What does He see?  He sees His darling Son, Jesus! 

Colossians 3:3 says, in your new life you are "hid with Christ In God".  Because your life is "hid with Christ", having a blessed future is not based on how much you strive to be perfect, or how hard you work at changing yourself.  It's based on the person of Jesus. It's not about whether you deserve to be blessed, favored, and victorious. The real question is, does Jesus deserve to be blessed, favored, and victorious?  Yes!  And since I am hid with Christ, I am too!  How?  1 John 4:17 declares "As He is, so are we in this world".  He's perfect, therefore, in our born again spirit, so are we.  Say it out loud, "In Christ, I am perfect!" 

Truth = Grace

John 8:32 "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" 

The breakthroughs you have been fighting to have for years can happen in a supernatural instant. I want to ask you a very important question, "Have you often felt anxious, worried, or fearful that the worst would happen to you and your family?  These negative, exhausting emotions are merely flags that indicate what we truly believe about ourselves, our lives, and God. 

If worrying or being fearful seems to be your natural mode, what you need to do is keep hearing and learning about how much God loves you and how precious you are to Him.  

John 8:32 is a verse that has been widely used, even in secular circles.  But what does it really mean?  What is the truth that sets you free?  We need to recognize that Jesus said this to the Jews of His day. These were people who at an early age grew up studying and learning the law. Yet these people, much like today, still battled with fears, anxieties, sicknesses, and all kinds of oppression, bondage and addictions.  So what is the truth that Jesus was talking about, this truth that would set them free from a destructive lifestyle? 

It clearly couldn’t be the law because they were already well versed in the law. The truth Jesus was talking about, the real truth was the grace and unmerited favor of God.  Freedom can only be found in grace.  Jesus came by "grace and truth" (John 1 :17).  The word "came" in this context is used as a singular verb, meaning grace and truth are one in the same thing.  Truth = Grace.  It's the truth of God's grace that sets you free.

Wounded Time, Is Wasted Time

by Natalie Fortunato

Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." 

"If you're going through hell, don't stop!".  Heard this line in a country song while I was waiting at the car dealership for my oil change.  Loved it!  Totally got my attention.  Such great advice, right?  

When we really mess up, totally miss God, sometimes the guilt and shame is paralyzing.  It's almost unbearable.  But the worse thing we can do is stay there. All wounded and condemned, kicking ourselves.  What a waste of time.  

The enemy loves to rehearse the incident over and over again in our minds.  How we failed.  But the Holy Spirit is the exact opposite.  When we miss it, He loves to remind us of who we are in Christ.  He reminds us that we are loved, accepted, forgiven and righteous.  He reminds us of our calling and our assignment.  

If you've messed up big time, change your mind and change your direction.  Admit where you got off track, take responsibility for your actions, take dominion and authority over the enemy, and allow the Holy Spirit to get you back on track…and move on!  

A Meal. Or a Mountain.

Matthew 17:19-21 "Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?  And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." 

What comes out only by prayer and fasting?  The spirit?  No.  He was referring to unbelief.  It's unbelief that only goes out by prayer and fasting.  He fully expected the disciples to cast that spirit out, on the spot, or He wouldn't have rebuked them saying in verse 17, saying, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?"  The issue wasn't casting a spirit out, it was their unbelief. 

Prayer and fasting brings us from a place of unbelief - where my mountains refuse to move, where everything seems impossible to me - to a place where nothing is impossible for me.  

When we fast, we are enforcing the positional truth that the sin nature was crucified with Christ and our flesh no longer has the power to rule over our spirit.  Our fasting doesn't move the devil, he's not the one with our problems.  Fasting doesn't move God, it moves us into a place where we can receive from God.  

Fasting destroys the hold that the flesh has had on our lives, that has defeated us time and time again, year after year.  Lies that tell us things will never get better, or that we will never accomplish more than we've already accomplished, that this is it for us.  

Fasting has the same effect on our flesh as it had on Jesus' flesh: it braces us against the temptations of the devil and helps us shut down the flesh by enforcing the perfect standing Jesus has already given us.  As the flesh loses ground, the peace of God can begin to rule in our lives.  

You choose.  A meal. Or a mountain.  Which would you rather do without?

Think Responsibly

Romans 12:2 (Amplified Bible) - "Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs] but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]."

Especially around the holidays, you hear the phrase "Drink Responsibly" or "Don't Drink and Drive".  It's an effort to convince people to stay off the road when drinking.  I can't tell you how many stories I've heard lately about car accidents caused by drunk drivers, it's so selfish and beyond dangerous. 

However, to "Think Responsibly" is the most important principle of our lives.  Why?  Proverbs 23:7 tells us that our whole life, and how we perceive other people and ourselves, is summed up in "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he".  Your life is a product of your thinking.

Just like an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol, the "negaholic" is addicted to negative thinking.  Positive thinking is a principle of the Word of God.  It's thinking the best, the Word, in negative situations, it's a confident expectation of good. 

"Negaholism" is something that can only be combated with one thing, the Word of God.  We must be in a constant, and I repeat, constant state of renewing our minds.  Here are four types of Negaholics...

Attitudinal Negaholics:  they are successful people who are drivenVerbal
Negaholics:  they are hopeless, helpless and unable to change their negative statements about themselves, others, situations, and just about everything.
Behavioral Negaholics:  they try so hard that you don't want to fault them, but self-sabotage is written all over them.
The Perfectionist: they have high and unreasonable standards, anything short of perfection is unacceptable. 

Let's make a commitment to be transformed in our minds by the Word of God.  Let's get rid of any negative thinking patterns and replace them with positive expectations of good, which is the Word of God.