Great Fight With Afflictions

"But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated,

ye endured a great fight of afflictions;"

Hebrews 10:32

Have you received a word from the Lord and it just illuminated you? You became spiritually aware of your call? You received new insight to direction of the path that HE wants you to go down? It was confirmation.

Then shortly after you endured a fight? One disappointment after another. A battle begun within your mind. Things just seemed to counter everything that you felt the word of the Lord that you received in your Spirit. Does this sound familiar?

Perhaps you are in this position now. . . your faith is strong, but your soul is weak . . . Are you not sure if you can go much further?

God's ways are mysterious. However, I know for certain God can bring victory out of defeat even if I do not know how God delivers the victory. I know for certain God has a way of bringing His victorious light into the darkness. So instead of worrying about erasing our disappointments, we need to keep going. So I encourage you. KEEP GOING!!! The best cure for disappointment is hope and an effort to make things happen according to HIS WILL. Look at that little bit of hope you have. You may not see the light at the end of the tunnel, BUT ITS THERE!

Philip Brooks wrote, "Life is full of ends, but every end is a new beginning, and we are continually coming to the point where we close one chapter, but we always can turn and open a new and better and a diviner chapter." - I WOULD BE HAPPY TO START THAT NEW CHAPTER!!!  How about you? Ready to start that new chapter? BUT!! What if this is the new chapter and we are just not embracing it? What is it in this day, on this road right now are we suppose to learn? I am sure one day we both will look back and see the chapter for what it is. We will then see whether or not we successfully traveled the map as we were suppose to. Did we make a wrong turn? Did we try to take a short cut? or did we just not want to go.

Yesterday, I read of Jonah and the disappointments he went through because of disaobedience. I know that my disappointments today are not because of disobedience. Although in times past I have had a few of those. I did relaize while reading Jonah that his journey is one that any of us easily could go down and probalby in a devotional I will share about that next week.

A few days ago I read in 1 Chronicles 17, of King David's noble and honorable desire to build a temple for the Lord. However, God spoke to Nathan the prophet, stating, "Go and tell My servant David, 'Thus says the Lord: 'You shall not build Me a house to dwell in' " (verse 4). He is told that someone else would accomplish this task, his son Solomon, and is then given a special promise (verses 11 to 14). Disappointed, yet not embittered, David submitted to the purposes of God (verses 15 – 27), and devoted himself to the preparations necessary in order that his son might construct the temple for Jehovah (1 Chronicles 22, 28, and 29).

Gods ways are mysterious and I have not the faintest idea and when I think such I am always reminded, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says 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

"Disappointment – His appointment, Change one letter, then I see

That the thwarting of my purpose, Is God's better choice for me.

His appointment must be blessing Tho' it may come in disguise,

For the end from the beginning Open to His wisdom lies.

Disappointment – His appointment, No good thing will He withhold:

From denials oft we gather Treasures of His love untold.

Well He knows each broken purpose Leads to a fuller, deeper trust,

And the end of all His dealings Proves our God is wise and just.

Disappointment—His appointment, Lord, I take it, then, as such,

Like clay in hands of potter, Yielding wholly to Thy touch.

All my life's plan is Thy molding, Not one single choice be mine;

Let me answer, unrepining— 'Father, not my will, but Thine'."

The word "great" comes from the Greek word mega

To be continued . . .

Let's Pray: I boldly declare that I won't back down! I won't surrender to Satan's vicious lies -- his attacks against my body, his challenges to my finances, and his assaults against my relationships. Regardless of how much resistance he tries to bring against me, I will not back up on the word that God gave me. I will stand fast, holding tightly to what God has promised, and the devil will be one to throw in the towel and surrender! I will resist him until he flees and leaves me! I pray and declare this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

You Are Not Alone

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses . . ."

 Hebrews 12:1

The winters can be the most depressing times of the year. The weather causes us to become still and quiet and sometimes even keep us from being around others when we become snow bound. The elderly become more recluse for they fear of ice and falling. The sun comes out much less and it is just a dreary time of year. All of these situations can cause feelings of loneliness.

Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person experiences a strong sense of emptiness and solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social interaction. People can experience loneliness for many reasons and many life events are associated with it. Loneliness can occur when there is a physical loss of a significant person in one's life and this can lead to grief and even worse depression. Loneliness can occur after the birth of a child, called postpartum depression. Loneliness can occur when you are living in a new community and you haven't established new relationships yet. Loneliness can occur when your marriage is unstable. One can even feel lonely within a crowd of people because you don't feel connected emotionally or socially. Most of what I shared is for the most part just social loneliness. Maybe you can relate to one or two of these. Learning to cope with changes in life patterns is essential in overcoming loneliness.

There is no way that I in this small space of words could get into a psychological debate or discussion to cover all the bases for loneliness. It is such a deep symptom for some that counseling is required so I do not want to make light of the issue. I just want to show you a ray of hope to encourage you that you are not alone.

The Bible is full with examples of people - people just like you - who stood in faith and endured difficulties in order to do the will of God. I read a book last year entitled, God's Generals fully detailing the lives of 12 people who were challenged in their faith, yet held fast to the Word of God. And as a result most, not all, saw God's promises come to pass in their lives! Just like the lives we see in the Bible. Those that didn't see God's promises come to pass fell to sin habits and other distractions from life.

You are not alone! Look at Noah, Abraham, Peter, Sarah, and Mary;  just a few from the Bible who had to fight and they each endured as did those in God's Generals like Smith Wigglesworth, Kathryn Kuhlman, Aimee Semple McPherson, and John G Lake to name a few.

Take some time to read some of the biographies of these people from the Bible or a book. Those that took HIS Word deep into their hearts and who refused to stop, who refused to give into their feelings, who refused to give into their sin habits and distraction of life saw the fulfillment of what God had promised them. Like you, they faced hardships and challenges. They faced loneliness. But no matter the obstacle in their way, they kept going and never stopped until Gods plan for their lives was accomplished. If you look closely, you'll see that there are a number of these "never give up" people living on this earth right now. You are not alone in your walk of faith!

Don't let the devil tell you are alone; that you are the only one who has faced this kind of circumstance, because so many have gone before you who have faced the same battles and won with great victory! If you'll commit a few minutes to read Hebrews 11 and some biographies, I believe you will find that your battle isn't worse than the battles that these saints fought. Reading these verses and stories will encourage your heart.

I started this devotional with a scripture from Hebrews 12:1,  "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses . . .".  You are not alone!  But lets say your social situation is going great for you and yet you still feel lonely and not at ease. If this is you, perhaps you need to read just a little further for in the same verse it says, ". . . let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, . . .". Maybe the root of your loneliness is that your missing your Heavenly Father from your life, the Holy Spirit is missing because of the weight and sin from your life. That is an easy remedy. You can call out to HIM right now and fix that. HE is waiting to spend time with you. You are not alone!

Don't give up and throw in the towel! Hard times will pass and you will see the Word of God bring you the victory you desire. The final words from Hebrews 12:1 says this, " . . . let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (vs.2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith . . .". HE is there at the beginning and the end - "the author and finisher" - You are not alone!

What Is It That You Are Looking For?

"Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God."

2 Corinthians 2:17

I repented of my sins and asked the Lord into my life at the altar of a little Brethren church in Plymouth, Indiana at the age of 13. I am still blessed to have a relationship as Facebook friends with the pastor who led me to the Lord that Sunday morning. In those early years as a young babe in Christ, I didn't live a holy and sanctified life, I tried but I fell more times than I would like to remember BUT the desire of my heart was to love and live for HIM. You know if you have an addiction, you cannot over come that addiction unless you change your environment and that's what I did. I left Plymouth, Indiana.

My first adventure was to Guatemala at 16 and then by 18 I was at Bible School in Tulsa, OK. It was not as rosy as it sounds for my relationship still struggled with the Lord. Those addictions, those demons can follow you even if you change locations. How many of you have learned that? BUT the desire of my heart was to love and live for HIM.

The very first time I heard from the Lord was in 1983 when HE gave me the scripture from John 15:16, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." I received this before I left for Bible School and took this as my calling in life and ran with it. Not necessarily understanding what all that entailed within the context of the words within the scripture.

As I was reared in a large well known Charismatic church it enabled me to associate with some great men of God when I moved to Tulsa. A very well respected pastor who is known internationally married Mark and I and we saw the Charismatic ministries of the 80's and 90's flourish. My life with the Lord was more stable and those addictions which were sin habits had been dealt with and our family life was growing with the faith and prosperity messages of its day. We wanted to be like those great men of God that we admired.

In January 1992, the Lord spoke to me again in scripture from Jeremiah 1:10, "See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant." By this time, we are no longer in Tulsa. We have two beautiful boys. Life is in full swing. As a family we were loving and living for HIM, but not exactly where we are suppose to be. We were on Plan B for we allowed the cares of this world distract us. We were no longer in the "faith movement", but learning about grace from a country church in Mississippi and now headed to Marietta, GA.

When we left for Marietta, GA I heard the Lord speak to me; "You are going for one thing, but it is not what you think." We spent the first 12 years of our life in Marietta going for the advancement of life in career and job. Mark became a Doctor and I had a wonderful real estate business by the time 2005 came around. We were serving in church faithfully loving and serving HIM, but nothing was going well. Mark was not able to practice and by this time our priorities were out of balance. I was the bread winner and acting as head of the house. Have I said, "things were not going well"? Life was out of control BUT we still had the desire with ALL of our hearts to love and live for HIM and we were with as much knowledge that we had at the time. God does not fault us EVER for all that HE wants is ALL our hearts to love and live for HIM. HE can and will take care of the rest.

The next couple of years the Lord started adjusting our careers and our hearts and by 2006 we were being positioned to give everything up and go into full time ministry. We were finally going to be getting onto Plan A after over 20 years.

Well as we have been serving HIM faithfully over the last few years full time we have had several life altering changes in our lives some very extreme, but what at this time I want to share with you is a mindset that must change as an American church, there are many mindsets that need to change but I'm going to share one at this time and it is for all of us as believers and especially those that are in leadership.

The American church has heard, I have heard for over 30 years, plenty of teaching about personal destiny; reminding us that God has a calling on every person in HIS kingdom. Even the Lord had spoke to me about personal destiny as I have shared above and HE may have even spoken to you. Most of this has been beneficial, but we must be careful that our teaching about our destiny does not deteriorate into a lust for greatness. Coming from the corporate arena this is ALL that is out there "winning is everything". The Leviathan spirit is strong. And just like so much of the world has come into the "christian lifestyle" this spirit has come in as well.

We must constantly place our desires for recognition, for significance, for power, and/or for fame on the altar. Even Christian ministry or ministers can become an idol in our lives and keep us from being used with ANOINTING. I just saw a ministry this week where the pastor had been buried on the grounds and a shrine was built to him. Come on people!

Paul said for us to have the attitude that was in Jesus, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interest of others." Philippians 2:3-4

Jesus told the disciples that they must follow the path HE set before them. Jesus HIMSELF rejected Satan's methods of greatness. Jesus said to seek your own life, to pursue advancement, promotion or fame in the eyes of others is to forfeit fruitfulness in HIS Kingdom.

All of us in the church, especially leaders, need to return to these simple truths of self-denial. We need to learn humility. As leaders, instead of trying to fulfill our own destinies we need to equip other to achieve HIS purposes. We must be a bond-servant to Jesus and to the works of HIS ministries.

I believe that if most leaders would have had to live like we have lived for the past few years that they would not pursue the call to lead. But they see the Hollywood limelight that leaders have evolved into that are on television and to them that is their destiny and their promotion. Let me tell you - it is not! That is not what HE is looking for. That is what you are looking for.

I thank God that my desire has been to love and live for HIM and not for me or man.

God's Perfect Timing

"But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired." Isaiah 40:31

I believe that the most common mistake we make in understanding God's will is this: We get a right idea about what he wants us to do, but we miss his timing in carrying it out OR we don't see the view from HIS perspective and its our view with our own mindsets. Today, we are going to talk about HIS timing.

We have to remember that God's timing is different than our own. HE sees things from a different perspective and sees the whole picture, not just what we want, but what is best for us in the grand plan for our lives. All is part of a divine order and will be done in its own right and proper time. Of course, when we are hoping, praying and waiting for something, it's easy to forget this. After all, waiting is "remaining inactive in one place while expecting something." And being inactive means feeling powerless and at the mercy of the world - nobody likes that feeling. But we must keep in mind God's greater plan and HIS perfect timing:

"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose."
Romans 8:28

"Trust in Him at all times, O people."
Psalm 62:8

Personalities can altar how we approach "timing". Especially strong 'D' personalities like me who want it done NOW! Then the 'C' personality wants it done his/her way for his/her way is the only way. The D and C are my personality traits that I can understand from a weakness in the area of timing. Although God has grown me up into these other personality types they are not dominant for me which helps balance the weakness of my D/C personality. The 'I' wants to have fun as they are doing it and if it takes to long they get distracted and the 'S' is slow going and takes forever to make the decision to even do it. You may have your perspective and views of what you see and are welcome to share in my comments.

1. Trust - If we doubt God's willingness to hear and answer our prayer, we may begin to feel bitter when we think God has heard our prayer but is silent. Scripture teaches us that God is unchangeable, which means HE is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and we can always rely on HIM to provide the best possible path for our lives! God said that HE will never leave us or forsake us. If HE seems silent now, it may because HE has another plan, different timing or a way to answer our prayer that has not been revealed to us yet. We must trust in HIS plan. We must wait and not begin our own plan.

2. Resist - We must resist the temptation to take matters into our own hands. Patience is powerful. Having patience is essential in many circumstances and the Holy Spirit is here to fill us with this patience when we feel we cannot wait another minute on God. The safest place we can rest is in God's Will. When we rest here, resisting temptation is easy. When we fill we can't be patient one more day we must pray all the more.

3. Pray - How many times have you given a prayer request to God and felt HE was deaf? During these times, you need to keep on praying, but pray the right way. God always answers our prayers, but it may not be the way we want HIM or expect HIM to. It may be a yes, a no or something better. When we don't immediately get the answer we want, we have a tendency to repeat the same prayer over and over until we either lose our voice or simply give up. After we have given our need to the Lord, we must turn our request into a "Thank you," and an attitude of expectancy, and say, "Not my will, but Yours, Lord." When we thank the Lord in advance for answering our prayers, it is an active display of our faith that demonstrates to God our confident expectation that HIS awesome power will provide for us.

"The prayer that begins with trustfulness, and passes on into waiting, will always end in thankfulness, triumph, and praise." ~ Alexander MacLaren

I can remember experience after experience where I have cried out to the Lord for help and deliverance. When going through those times, I think that if I could just get out of this one pit all would be well. However, not long after the Lord delivers me from one set of problems, I find myself in another whole set of problems. And again I am seeking HIS help with the same kind of desperate prayer.

It began to dawn on me that God has carefully planned out these 'pauses' in life in order to renew, strengthen, humble and focus us on God. This is much like the recommendation that one go around a fruit tree and cut off its roots - shocking it so that it will grow stronger and healthier roots. In this respect 'Waiting upon the Lord' is similar to pruning.

I love this quote by Chuck Swindoll: “God never forgets anything HE promises. That’s right…NEVER! God’s agenda continues to unfold right on schedule, even when there is not a shred of evidence that HE remembers. Even when the most extreme events transpire and “life just doesn’t seem fair,” God is there, carrying out HIS providential plan exactly as HE pre-arranged it. HE keeps His word.”

Sometimes God's timing seems delayed. Sometimes it seems God has forgotten. Then when HE does answer your not sure your capable of doing what HE is asking of you. But that's a devotional for another day.

But rest assured dear friends - HE has not forgotten. The same God who knit you together, is with you today. Waiting. Watching. Letting HIS plan unfold one day at a time. While we want to know the entire picture, we want to know the ending, that is not for us to know today.

Many of you have heard me say, "One can know the will of the Lord only as much as one day can hold and sometimes that is to far ahead to look." This has been my view of life since 2007.

Before we close out our time together I want to share one more encouraging word that I shared on Facebook: "You may NOT see anything right now!!! You may NOT hear anything right now!! You may NOT even FEEL anything right now!!! But, God is working BEHIND THE SCENES ON YOUR BEHALF!! It is a hidden strategy!! Not hidden from you BUT FROM THE ENEMY!!! You must be like Mary, when God hid JESUS in her!!! Don't give details to JUST ANYBODY!! Just say BE IT UNTO ME, EVEN AS YOU HAVE SPOKEN!!!"

Let's Pray: Father, I have been waiting for ________________ for so long now, and I come before You today to ask your help. I pray that You will increase my faith and patience so that I will put my whole trust in your perfect timing and plan for my life. I will put my complete trust in You with confidence and eager expectation of Your answer, whatever that answer may be and whenever that answer may come. Thank you that you are always with me. Thank you that You hear my prayers and will answer in Your time and in Your way. You, Lord, are without limits. Thank You for Your unfailing word and that You always keep Your promises to me. I believe with my heart, mind and soul Your plan for my life is the best one possible and I thank You for Your answer. Being in Your will is the safest place I can ever reside. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

Do You Need Peace?

"Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. . ."

Job 22:21

Do you have peace? Do you know what peace is? Webster defines peace as a state of tranquility or quiet, freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions, harmony in personal relationships.

This scripture from Job 22:21, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace..." is a tremendous promise and statement as to how to obtain peace. It says plainly that the way to peace is to acquaint yourself with God.

The world is searching for peace today. At this writing Egypt is rioting in their own streets for they seek peace from a president that they do not believe has their best interest at heart. We are all very familiar with problems and even know how to create more problems within our lives. We continue giving our problems first place by giving them priority in our thinking of how WE can fix it. Dear one, you may be in a situation where your problem may be even to big for you to fix. As a country ourselves, we have turned from God and have found us in that place - it is to big for one or any number of men to fix.

We do not know how to tell people how they can have peace, because most of us do not have peace within ourselves. So if you need more peace in your life dear one, draw closer to HIM. If your problem is bigger than you are, draw closer to HIM.

And with January 1, 2011 devotional regarding resolutions partnered with this devotional nothing is to big for HIM! This is your answer: seeking and drawing close to HIM. For dear one, there will always be problems, there will always be conflicts. Peace is being in the midst of the storm and having calm in your heart for you know how to accept what God sends your way for everything is Father filtered. You trust God. (period)

Dear one, I pray as you seek HIM and draw close to HIM that you will not let the distractions of life pull you from finding the truth that you need to improve upon your life circumstances. Lord bless you as you draw unto HIM, as HE wraps HIS arms around you and gives you strength beneath the shadow of HIS wing.

_________________ The Conqueror! (place your name here)

BELIEVE!!! believe what? YOU ARE MORE THAN A CONQUEROR!!

A conqueror is:
1. To defeat or subdue by force, especially by force of arms.
2. To gain or secure control of by or as if by force of arms: scientists battling to conquer disease; a singer who conquered the operatic world.
3. To overcome or surmount by physical, mental, or moral force: I finally conquered my fear of heights.

The opposite of this is defeat.

How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as a conqueror? or do you see yourself defeated?

Do you know how ever you see yourself it is being projected? You are either showing confidence and assurance or you are showing your negative inferior perceptions. If it's the latter, you own your own life unto God and only you can control your destiny unto HIM! It's all "upstairs" in how you think about it. You may have to erase a lot of garbage and retrain your thinking process. There is a lot of good books, good tapes, good friends who can help you. Quit living a defeated life! Begin to change it today!

Now, I want to talk with those who have a positive outlook in life and I want to stretch you by faith even further. Your pretty positive, upbeat, and can encourage those around you. Yes, you. That's who I am talking to.

Those that don't have a defeated life, stop short at thinking we are conquerors, BUT scripture says in Romans 8:37, ". . . we are MORE THAN conquerors . . .". I like the New International Readers Version, "No! In all these things we will do even more than win! We owe it all to Christ, who has loved us."

What is it even more to conquer? What is it even more to win? There's more?

The Greek for "more than conqueror" is the word hupernikos. It is a compound of the words huper, "more than" and nikos, "an over comer; a conqueror, champion, victor, master." By joining these compound word Paul is providing us a super-duper, power filled, exclamatory statement for us. The word "conqueror" alone wasn't strong enough to make Paul's point, so he joined the words huper before nikos to make his point stronger.

The words, "more than" literally means over, above and beyond. It depicts something that is way beyond our measure or our thoughts. It carries the idea of superiority -- something that is utmost, paramount, foremost, first-rate, first-class, and top-notch; greater, higher, and better than; superior to; preeminent, dominant, and incomparable; more than a match for; unsurpassed, unequaled, and unrivaled by any person or thing.

This is who you are in Jesus Christ! You are not a loser! You are not even just a conqueror!

Let's pray: Lord, I thank you for making me a phenomenal, superior, more than conqueroring force! Because of what Jesus Christ has done for me, I am no longer a struggling loser. Instead, I possess the power to be an dominant over comer! Holy Spirit, I ask You to help me take my eyes off my past failures, remove the bad tapes from my thought process so I can focus on the power of the resurrection that lives inside me. I pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen.

CAUTION: A conqueror is not arrogant or proud. For a true conqueror recognizes it is HE who is with in them that gives them the ability to conquer.

"The way to be very great is to be very little. To be very noteworthy in your own esteem is to be unnoticed of God. If you must needs dwell upon the high places of the earth, you shall find the mountain summits cold and barren: the Lord dwells with the lowly, but He knows the proud afar off." ~ Charles Spurgeon.