Month: December 2022

Only Jesus knows how to calm and guide you through the storms in your life…

The Sea of Galilee is noted for sudden, violent storms that whip it into a churning froth.

Winds sweep down the valley of the Jordan from the north, picking up speed in the narrow gorge.

When they hit the Sea, it becomes extremely unsafe for navigation.

On this occasion, Jesus was crossing from the west side to the east.

When the storm broke, He was asleep in the boat.

The terrified disciples awoke Him with frantic pleas for help.

It is to their credit that they went to the right Person.

After rebuking the winds and the waves, Jesus rebuked His disciples for their puny faith.

When a great calm descended, the men marveled that even the elements obeyed their humble Passenger.

How little they comprehended that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe was in the ship that day!

All disciples encounter storms sooner or later. At times it seems we are going to be swamped by the waves.

What a comfort to know that Jesus is in the boat with us.

“No water can swallow the ship where lies the Master of ocean and earth and skies.”

The thrashing sea became like glass.

Anyone would be afraid in a similar situation.

Yet, after Jesus commanded the storm to cease, He asked the disciples why they feared, why they failed to trust Him to care for them.

No one can quell life’s storms like the Lord Jesus.

Jesus also has the power to calm the storms in your life.

So whatever you’re going through in life, just remember that God is always there with you, to guide you through it, and bring you to the other side.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Wednesday, Dec 07
Faith it Daily

“LORD, JUST GET ME THROUGH THIS STORM.”

“He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.”
— Matthew 8:26

You know, there’s a story in Scripture about a storm.

A time when a boat was rocking amidst the wind and waves, and a begging question was asked to the Savior.

“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.

The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’ ”

The thing that sticks out to me here is that the Savior was right there.

He was there with the others while the storm was taking place.

He was not ignorant to the wind and the waves. He was present.

Still it stormed.

Since He was God in flesh, I have to believe He knew the storm was coming—yet He did not exercise his miraculous powers to prevent it.

Still—He was present—there as the storm began to rage.

As the waves threatened to overtake the boat, His disciples seemed to release a desperate plea a lot like mine— “Lord, save us!” And the Savior did. Because that’s what He does.

As we face the hard storms of life, the cloudy dark moments—the times when we think we won’t possibly make it through—we are tempted to think He has forgotten us, left us all alone here–BUT He hasn’t.

As the storm rages around you, remember God is there, too.

Pray with Us
Dear God, thank you for being with me even when the storm is raging. In Jesus’ name. Amen
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We know from the Bible that Sickness and disease are a result of our fallen condition, separated from God and is also the work of Satan…

How does Satan Brings Sickness and Suffering?

I believe that Satan works in three major ways to bring sickness and suffering on people:

1. Satan causes sickness directly.

An obvious tactic is demonization. For example, approximately 25 percent of Jesus’ healings as recorded in the Gospel of Mark involve demons.

The direct influence of the devil is explicitly demonstrated when Jesus healed a crippled woman and was scolded by a synagogue leader for doing it on the Sabbath.

Jesus said, “Ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13:16).

Satan’s direct role is also explicit in the case of Job.

What percentage of sickness is directly caused by Satan we do not know, but unquestionably much is.

2. Satan indirectly uses the natural results of the Fall to cause sickness and suffering.

He uses bacteria, viruses, malnutrition, accidents, fights, poison, old age, rapists, murderers and on and on.

In all probability most sickness falls into this category.

3. Satan tempts people to fall into sin, and God at times uses sickness to punish them for it.

There are many examples in the Old Testament of plagues, which God sent on His own people to punish them for sin.

When some Israelites rebelled against Moses and Aaron, God sent a plague and killed 14,700 (see Num. 16:45-50).

Then God killed another 50,070 Israelites at Beth Shemesh when they disobeyed Him by looking into the ark of the Lord (see 1 Sam. 6:19), just to cite two examples.

In the New Testament, God made Elymas the sorcerer blind as part of a power encounter (see Acts 13:6-12).

In Corinth some believers were sick and some had died as a result of abusing the Lord’s supper (see I Cor. 11:30), by not Discerning the body in the blood of our Lord.

In 1 Corinthians 11:29, Paul tells us,

“For he who eats and DRINKS in an UNWORTHY manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

Unworthy is an advert modifying the action which is DRINKS.

By failing to discern the reason for the stripes and the cross they fail to receive the benefits of it, and so some were still sick and some have died.

The Bible tells us that the Devil Comes to Steal, Kill, and Destroy!

And so no matter what the immediate cause, the usual outcomes of sickness are pain, suffering and death, all of which are the works of Satan.

What Jesus did for us on the cross is absolutely incredible.

Isaiah 53:5 says,

“But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.”
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What does “by His stripes” mean exactly?

This verse prophetically looked forward hundreds of years into what was then yet future to a day when Jesus Christ would literally become the suffering servant Isaiah talked about.

We know that Jesus Christ before He was put upon a cross received stripes upon His back.

Those stripes were a result of a cat of nine tails.

Those stripes were administered by a Roman Soldier who literally took that whip and beat Jesus back with it until stripes appeared.

Those stripes were severe — 39 times the whip came down.

If we believe that Jesus death on the cross provides us with forgiveness from transgressions,

And if we believe His death provides atonement for our iniquities,

And if we believe that His death was the chastisement of God upon Him for our peace with God.

Then we have to believe the last phrase of this verse that says, “BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED.”

In fact, Peter writes and sees what Jesus did on the whipping post as a finished work.

Jesus said, “It is finished” before He died.

He completed what was necessary on the cross for divine healing to be administered in the world.

1 Peter 2:24 puts it this way, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you WERE healed.”

Not are healed, but WERE healed!

In other words, the work for your healing has already been finished. Your healing is available.

Many times we have to contend for that healing though because the enemy will resist.

Our part is to continue praying and believing, hanging on to the trustworthiness and reliability of both God in His Word, that would he promises you He’ll bring the past.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)

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“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6)…

Mary Did You Know?

The child born of a human virgin is Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Isa. 7:14; 9:6a).

He was a human child born of a human virgin, yet He was also the very God.

Isaiah was written about seven hundred years before Christ’s incarnation, yet it speaks of a child born who would be the very God.

Gabriel Visits Mary

“Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”
(Luke 1:38)

Mary responded submissively to God’s will, as Hannah had (1 Sam. 1:11, where the same Greek word, doule, “servant,” or “slave-girl,” occurs in the Septuagint).

Even though Gabriel’s announcement was good news, it was also bad news.

Mary would bear the Messiah, but her premarital pregnancy would bring misunderstanding and undeserved shame on her for the rest of her life (cf. Deut. 22:23-24).

Therefore her humble attitude is especially admirable (cf. Gen. 21:1, 7, 12; 30:34).

“There were three miracles of the Nativity [according to Martin Luther]:

1. That God became man,

2. That a virgin conceived, and

3. That Mary believed.

And the greatest of these was the last.”

In humble submission, Mary was now ready to serve God and follow His will.

As pregnancy had lifted Elizabeth’s disgrace it would soon bring the virgin Mary disgrace.

Both agreed to do what God required (see v. 25).

A young unmarried girl who became pregnant risked disaster.

Unless the father of the child agreed to marry her, she would probably remain unmarried for life.

If her own father rejected her, she could be forced into begging or prostitution in order to earn her living.

And Mary, with her story about becoming pregnant by the Holy Spirit, risked being considered crazy as well.

Still Mary said, despite the possible risks,

“Let it be to me according to your word.”

When Mary said that, she didn’t know about the tremendous opportunity she would have.

She only knew that God was asking her to serve Him, and she willingly obeyed.

Don’t wait to see the bottom line before offering your life to God.

Offer yourself willingly, even when the outcome seems disastrous.

Mary gives us an example of total devotion to the Lord in her answer to the angel Gabriel: “I am the Lord’s servant.

Are you willing to entrust your future to God, whatever it might bring you, in the knowledge that God has only your best interest at heart, to give you thoughts of peace and not of evil, and also to give you a future and a hope.

This is true for all of Us, the Abundant Life that we all are seeking can only happen as we fulfill the destiny that God has planned for us.

Ephesians 1:3-6
New King James Version

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
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What are your greatest dreams?

The Abundant Life and the Fulfillment of your Dreams will only happen as you surrender your all to God!

Remember God can do anything and there’s NOTHING impossible with Him.

Ask God to show you what He wants you to do, and then ask Him for the power and courage to do it.

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Saturday, Dec 03
Today in the Word

A MONUMENTAL MEETING
by Kelli Worrall

A friend of mine recently signed up for an overseas mission trip.

During the training, she was excited to participate with her team. But as the departure date approached, her anxiety grew until she wondered if she could even make the trip.

It’s one thing to accept God’s call on your life. It can be another thing to walk it out.

Mary wasted no time in following the angel’s lead.

She put feet to her faith and traveled for three days (80–100 miles) to visit her cousin Elizabeth and confirm Gabriel’s news.

The meeting of these two mothers was a monumental event. Both women were experiencing miraculous pregnancies with eternal implications.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s first “hello” and the baby John kicked in her womb, he was already pointing the way to Jesus.

Elizabeth’s loud exclamation was not a result of her own emotion alone. It was directed by the Holy Spirit and full of humility.

Her posture toward Mary foreshadowed her son’s ministry as he pointed to Jesus.

Elizabeth overflowed with joy and awe.

She graciously blessed Mary and expressed her honor at being a part of God’s new work.

Mary then voiced her psalm of thanksgiving.

Verses 46 to 55, called the Magnificat, are rich in theology.

The first half contains Mary’s praise for God’s blessing to her.

Like Elizabeth, she expressed humility and honor at being chosen by God.

Then Mary pronounced a general praise to God for His actions and His character, demonstrated to all people throughout time.

She worshiped God for His eternal mercy and sovereign power—a power that defied human hierarchies.

He had dethroned proud earthly rulers, elevated the humble, and provided for His people.

In both Elizabeth and Mary, we find examples of how to respond to God’s call on our life—even when that call might come with hardship and cause us fear.

May we, too, put feet to our faith and humbly praise the God who continues to call.

PRAY WITH US

We, too, have been chosen to carry out Your purposes. Like Mary and Elizabeth, we glorify You, Lord, and rejoice in You, our Savior! May our joy in serving You forever increase.
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‘Tis is the season to come join the Adventure!

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God the Holy Spirit will lead you and teach you, in the way you should go…

“God speaks to us Moment by Moment through the things that are going on in our life.”
— Richard Foster

There are at least three different ways that God speaks to us:

1. Through His Word,

2. Through the Holy Spirit, and

3. Through our life circumstances.

This is sometimes called the synchronicity of God in our lives.

Here are some examples, in the Bible, where people were able to discern the voice of God through the circumstances, moment by moment in their lives.

For example, in Acts 16:6-7, Paul was trying to travel to different places, but when his way was blocked they concluded that God was the one who had directed them not to go:

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”
(Acts 16:6)

Another biblical example of God using the circumstances of life to direct us towards where He wants us to go is found when Jesus was sending out his disciples:

“And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” (Matthew 10:11-14)

So how were the disciples to know which house they should stay at on their missionary journeys?

Jesus said try to find out who is ready to host you, enter their house with a greeting, and then see what happens.

If the household shows you they are ready to help, then stay there. If the household turns out to not be willing to help, then leave it.

Jesus didn’t say, fast and pray until you receive a dream about which house you should stay in.

He said let the circumstances that unfold in your life lead you.

I ran across this quote some years ago and I have found it to be quite helpful in trying to discern the will of God in my life.

Note that number 4 deals with the providential circumstances that are going on in our life, being an indication of God’s direction.

It’s important not to stretch this method of hearing God and knowing His will too far. God does speak through the circumstances of our lives, but we still have to be careful how we interpret “what” God is saying through the circumstances.

Everything centers around the Word of God, which is God’s plumbline for us to discern true for error.

God will never lead you to do anything that will contradict His Word.
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DISCERNING THE WILL OF GOD
by George Mueller

1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has not will of its own in regard to a given matter.

Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be.

When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impressions.

If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God.

The Spirit and the Word must be combined.

If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also.

“4. Next I take into account providential circumstances.

These plainly indicate God’s will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

“5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.

“6. Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly.

In trivial matters and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.
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Isaiah 30:21

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’ ”

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)
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Sunday, Dec 03
DAILY MEDITATION
by Henri Nouwen

GOD IS A GOD OF THE PRESENT

The real enemies of our life are the “oughts” and the “ifs.”

They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future.

But real life takes place in the here and the now.

God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful.

When Jesus spoke about God, he always spoke about God as being where and when you are.

“When you see me, you see God.

When you hear me, you hear God.”

God is not someone who was or will be, but the One who is, and who is for me in the present moment.

That’s why Jesus came to wipe away the burden of the past and the worries of the future.

He wants us to discover God right where we are, here and now.
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Sometimes things have to be believed before you can see them manifest in your life…

Remember that the definition of faith is it’s the SUBSTANCE of things you’re HOPING for that’s evidenced by things NOT SEEN in the natural (Heb 11:1).

Faith means that you begin to see things as real with your sanctified imagination and you began to speak of it as real, even in spite of every contradictory feeling or circumstance, all based on the trustworthiness and reliability of God and His Word, that when God gives you a promise He has the power to bring that to pass in your life, in the knowledge that His Word will NOT return to Him void.

Listen to what father Abraham said on this subject:

Romans 4:16-21
New Living Translation

16 So the promise is received by faith.

It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s.

For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”

This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations.

For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise.

In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.

21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises.
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Notice in verse 17 how God calls those things that do not exist as though they did.

He changed Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of a multitude). Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Everything exists in two realms; first the spiritual and then the natural.

God spoke the world into existence from things unseen with words.

And all through the creation account of Genesis, nothing came into existence until God said it!

With us being created in God’s image and after His likeness, our words that come out of our mouth, which are an expression of our faith, will produce either good or evil, life or death; and they have a creative force behind them (Prov 18:21).

Jesus tells us that you shall have WHATSOEVER YOU SAY.

Mark 11:22-25
New King James Version

22 So Jesus answered and said to them,

“Have faith in God!

23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
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Hebrews 11:3 (NLT) By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. (Hebrews 11:3-NLT).

To put this together, I must speak what God says about me and my life even when it doesn’t seem that it is true.

It’s all based on us receiving and believing the promise of His Word, in that God never tells us to ask Him for things He doesn’t want us to have (1 John 5:14-15).

I must say I believe I’m healed according to the Word while the symptoms get worse in my body.

I must say my God is meeting all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus while the bills are piling up.

I must say in all these things I am more than a conqueror through Him who loved me while I feel defeated.

I must say He promised to never leave me or forsake me even when I feel alone!

Faith receives before it sees the results.

It believes that it has something before there is any manifestation of the answer to prayer.

And it talks the way it wants things to be, not the way they are!

SELAH (let us pause and calmly think about these things)

Click on link below:

TAKE YOUR HEALING BY FAITH, by Gloria Copeland

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