Sometimes I just sit during my quiet time, and get frustrated at the fact that God just isn’t working hard enough in my journey to heal me or to change me or whatever HE has promised to do in MY LIFE.  I sit and watch others and wonder… God… Why don’t your heal that person?  Why are THEY going through what they are going through?  Well… there are definitely TWO lessons to learn out of this.  For one thing.  God has HIS own plan, and HIS will in the matter WILL be done (Mathew 6:10).  This for some of us, may be a NEW revelation, and I have spoken about this many times.  We can take the song “He’s got the whole world in HIS hands” to literally mean “He’s got the WHOLE WORLD (and their journey) in HIS hands” (Isaiah 9:6, Lamentations 3:37).

Daily Christian Inspiration

After careful meditation on HIS WORD.  I come to realize that it’s not just the END RESULT.  It’s the JOURNEY that’s involved here.  You don’t have to wake up in the morning and get discouraged because the you can rest assured that the JOURNEY itself is actually happening.  “LITTLE BY LITTLE”  (Deuteronomy 7:22).  This was so excited as I read this because it brings about a HOPE and a reassurance is God’s work in our lives and the lives of those we love, and are praying for.  You see, God’s work is not going to happen NOW, We may not be healed IMMEDIATELY, We may need to weather the storm for a while longer.  As I read that verse, and meditated on it I came to realize that if we Don’t allow God to work in our life, if we walk by the flesh, and not by the Spirit we depend on ourselves, and not God to do the work that He is doing in us.  At the end of Deuteronomy 7:22 we see that “You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you.”  I find this to be an interesting passage because I think that God is saying that if it happens all at ONCE, and not “Little by Little” according to HIS plan, and HIS WAY, pride will set in, and that is just ONE of the wild animals that is spoken about in this scripture verse.

So… don’t look for it NOW, look for it in God’s time with God’s stamp of approval, and don’t get discouraged because it IS happening a LITTLE at a time.

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Discouragement is a tool of Satan that, if allowed, will bring down all of your hope.  I was asking myself this week… What is the definition of HOPE?  Where do we get our HOPE From?

Psalm 62:5 says that our “Hope comes from the Lord”. HOPE is our FAITH in the future. So ultimately discouragement kills our Faith in the future.

I am always looking to God for encouragement because God doesn’t want us to be discouraged.  Evil is the exact opposite nature of God so when I feel discouragement coming on I know that evil is lurking somewhere, and more than likely it is lurking in my thought life.  The thoughts of “I’m not going to make it”, “This is too hard”, “I’m not good enough”, “They are so much better than me at doing that”, “I can’t”, “I pray, but God doesn’t seem to answer or He’s just not hearing”, or the BIG one for me is “He probably doesn’t answer my prayers because He is so disppointed in the way I act.”

Well… here I am to tell you today, that all of the statements above are LIES, LIES, LIES.  Satan wants us to believe the lies.  If any of those statements above are representing your thoughts, we have to get away from the lies, and look at the TRUTH.  With God’s Word we can change our thinking, renew our minds, and SET ourselves FREE from all discouragement.

Proverbs 23:7 – “As a man thinks in his heart, and so he is”

Instead of thinking negatively, let’s change it. 

“I am making progress”, “I am healing”, “Things may be a little slow in my healing, but God is getting me there”, “I am glad I am focused on HIM on not my circumstance, this puts me on the path to a healing, and a path to peace”, “I made a mistake, but I know God forgives me, and I know I won’t make that mistake again”, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”, “I refuse to believe what Satan tells me”, “I refuse to live in discouragement”

When we are believing the lies we are going against the nature of God.  When we are feeling anxious, or stressed, we are not believing in the TRUTH of “God is OMNIPOTENT (Rev 19:6), God is OMNIPRESENT (Genesis 28:16)”, “He is the Alpha and OMEGA(Revelation 22:13)”, “All things are possible with God (Mathew 19:26)

Notice something here… in the Negative Statements above there is no TRUTH (Scripture Verses) to go along with them because they are all LIES.  You have all of the POWER in the Universe at your finertips to remove any lie in your head with the TRUTH of God’s Word!

Psalm 42:5

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and 6my God.

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Ecclesiates 5:10

Daily Christian Inspiration

Could it be Material ‘STUFF’?  My question to you is… what are you searching for?  That thing that you are searching for… could it be wealth, fame, acceptance, even an education.  Just last week I was thinking of a new Jacuzzi!  Wow… wouldn’t it be awesome.  I’m not knocking anyone who has one, by no means, but what I am getting at is to SEEK GOD for what it is that you need.  To Seek God to Focus you, to bring you contentment.  Maybe you are BUSY BUSY BUSY… ever think about what God wants to do with your time?  I meet so many people that just can’t sit still, and be in total and complete fellowship with the Lord.  They have to be doing the NEXT BEST THING.  Off to SCHOOL, Learning to play and instrument, this, that, whatever.  SOMETHING always has to take up their time.  Do you know why?  Because Ecclesiastes tells us that it will NEVER satisfy us.  Whatever you are doing TOO MUCH of is not a good thing.  Psalm 46:10 tells us to “BE STILL and KNOW that IAM God”.  We need to rest in HIS CONTENTMENT.  Let’s ask some convicting questions.

1. How’s your devotion time with God?

Daily Christian Inspiration

You see… God is a GOD of Principles, a God of TRUTH.  His Word will never lie… it can’t.  He says to put HIM first for no other reason then knowing that it is what is best for you.  Your confidence, contentment, your overall PEACE with God relies STRICTLY on your relationship with HIM, and you can’t have that RELATIONSHIP with HIM unless you spend that time in HIS ever so WONDERFUL WORD!  Could you be ‘out of focus’?

2. How’s your relationship with your MATE? If not your mate than ANY RELATIONSHIP?

Do you deal with UNFORGIVENESS?  Do you deal with Anger?  Are you telling yourself the TRUTH about what may be wrong with your relationships?  Are you spending the time with your spouse that you are supposed to be spending (20 minutes per day MINIMUM), devotions… are you building good habbits in PRAYER with your SPOUSE?

3. Family LIFE?

Are you gone all of the time?  Are you giving your kids what they truly need?  MOMS and DADS… Praying for your children?  Watching them laugh, and growing, most importantly growing spiritually.  Are you PUSHING them towards an eternal loving relationship with GOD? are you following Proverbs 22:6?

I think that learning this one verse can be a start to your everlasting eternal peace with God… Say to yourself throughout the day.

“I will be still and know that HE is God”

Then watch the Peace of Christ, and Instructions, and DIRECTION come from HIM who knew you before you were born! (Jeremiah 1:5)

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I was on the phone with a friend of mine the other day, and he kept talking about “REPENTANCE”.  He was listing all of the “Sins” in his life of what it was that he was doing.  All of his addictions, all of his issues.  I could hear in his voice how BAD he felt, and how he just so badly wanted to change everything… even smoking.  He kept on and on about quitting all of the bad habit’s that have been built up in his life all of these years.  Over the phone I could hear him in this CAGE, and he just couldn’t get out.  He was being tormented by demons of pure condemnation.  He kept on saying, if I don’t REPENT of these things, I will be in trouble with God. I finally had to put a stop to the madness, in comes GRACE.

Romans 3:24  and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

I immediately told him not to even worry about REPENTING.  Of course the silence on the phone probably the silence that some of you have now just reading this.  He was blown away at first, and then he broke the silence and said to me “OK, now I am confused, how can we live our lives with God if we all have this SIN that we need to take care of”.  I told him that he hit the nail on the head.  “We ALL have this SIN to take care of”.  He was literally going to drive himself into the grave worrying about his sin, and wanting to repent of everything, and clean up his life.  I told him the minute he tries to repent of ONE of these things, Satan will be right back at him tempting, and throwing him back into the fire, and the pressure that he was putting on himself was NEVER going to allow him to repent. 

“OK”, he said, “What’s the secret?”

GRACE.  God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  Pure loving GRACE.  You see, we can’t even REPENT without GRACE, we can’t do ANYTHING WITHOUT GRACE!!!!  I have to say this again “We Can’t Do Anything Without Grace”.  This is the Big Secret, and it needs to be received by EVERYBODY.  We fall to sin, and we get back up, and we feel bad, we fall to sin again, we get back up, and we feel worse, and eventually we just DIE Trying.  Our Heavenly Father see’s us with Tunnel Vision, through the eyes of GRACE.  Once we receive GRACE, and learn to Love God because of what HE did on the cross, we’ll receive GRACE, and then the SINS will just roll off of our body like a marble.  God love us, and God sees us through His Son Jesus who gave His Life on a Cross to forgive us of our sins.  Once we understand that, and receive it… TRULY RECEIVE IT.  We will love God more and more, and our desire to sin will get less and less.  You see, whenever we try to quit sinning in our own strength it doesn’t work.  We are Right back to living the Christian Life in our own strength.

Declare – Psalm 91:2

I will say of the Lord “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust”

When we think of the Lord as our refuge, and fortress we know that it’s where we go for shelter.  Straight to the Lord.  John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.  As we “road map” through the scriptures I can have have confidence in this.  We need to “SAY”, “DECLARE”

Daily Christian Inspiration

that we can TRUST God.  The writer was struggling here.  Fear? Anxieties? Trouble? Worry? Stress? Depression? Who knows what what going through the mind of the Psalmist here, but he was certainly sure of something, as WE can be sure of something.  We can go to God and declare Him our Refuge, and Fortress… our protection.  We can trust God in the most difficult times.

Going back to the ROAD MAP part I was mentioning in the beginning.  We know that taking “REFUGE” in God as our Fortress/Shelter means going to HIS WORD.  Since The Word is God, we know that it will never come out VOID.  We know that we can lean and trust in it.  Going to the Word Daily will feed our minds, and hearts to allow us to deal with the daily issues/temptations/stresses that we are having to deal with.  I can guarantee ONE THING here.  If you are spending time in DAILY DEVOTION and TRULY receiving the Word of God through time with Him.  It will ALWAYS PAY OFF!  As I sit here, and write this I know with all surety through the scriptures that God is going to work in someones life to give them a peace and comfort through the Word… If and ONLY IF they are daily reaching out to HIM and seeing “The Word” as their Fortress/Shelter/Refuge.

Don’t let whatever you are dealing with get the BEST of you.  Share it with HIM, and I DECLARE your VICTORY!

Let’s take a look at Verse 1.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty”

“HE” is also “WHOEVER” so when the Psalmist is talking here, he is not just referring to himself, he is referring to Me, I, You, Thou, My wife, my kids, friends, Brother, Sister, Aunt, Uncle…. All of us ANYONE, and everyone.

“Dwells in the” – A dwelling is simply a place a live, abide.  So I can take this to mean study, meditate on the Word, praying, quiet time, sitting alone with God, be devoted to.  You just know that it’s anyone who sits in His presence, and focuses on His Goodness.

“Shelter of” – We can see this as a place to go when there’s trouble, but I also see the shelter as His Word, and His Promises.

So… as we start to put this together, I sit in the morning in HIS PRESENCE and DWELL on His Word because I know that He is my Shelter.  We need to sit in His presence, even as you are doing now.  Reading, and meditating on His Word!

“The Most High” – This is an easy one, God, The Holy Spirit, The Comforter, The Provider, Abba Father.  He is YOUR DADDY.

As a biological father to four little girls, I put myself in this position of taking care of my children.  I know that I want MORE for my Children, then I do MYSELF!  I know that I don’t want to see them go through ANYTHING.

Daily Christian Inspiration

It hurts me to see them sick, It hurts me to see them LONG for something.  I want to provide, take care of, and LOVE them.  What is so neat it that God wants MORE THAN THAT, and LOVES US MORE than we could ever even love our own children!

“Will ” – Most definitely, Surely, without a doubt.  You can be confident in knowing that it will be done.  This is TRUTH, and in Hebrews God says that Truth is “ALIVE”.  Something that is Alive, continues to grow, and blossom.  So the TRUTH grows and Blossoms in your life, you KNOW that HIS WILL and HIS TRUTH is working in your life.

“Rest In” – To put it simply, why not say “RELAX, ENJOY, be free from fear, have peace.  I even see this as not having any doubts.  You can just KNOW that God is there.  You are so rested, and so much at peace that You can even fall asleep.

“The Shadow” – The nice cool shady place, protected from the harmful rays of the sun, protected from the flaming arrows of the enemy.

“Of the Almighty” – God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit

So we can see where God is going to work in our lives as we read this Psalm, we can depend, and trust.  We can let go of the fear, the doubt, the shame, the issues that arise because HE is here, there is NOTHING, NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING that is too difficult for Him!  You can sit and meditate on this, and feel the release of the daily issues!

I want you to have confidence today, confidence in what God says to be TRUE. I want you to DWELL, and LIVE, and ABIDE in HIM.  It can and will work in your life, as you meditate on it, and come to know Him more and more everyday!

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Over this past Memorial Day weekend, I let the family get in the way.  I was so busy taking family here, there, and everywhere, I just totally turned myself away from quiet time with the Lord.

Well… this morning I woke up, and I was mentally ready to get back, and look what happened…. NOTHING!  That’s right.  Do you ever find yourself in that bind?  I’m not sure if it’s just the SEASON that is spoken about in Ecclesiastes or just plain laziness on my part, but either way… I know it’s Satan.  Because Satan wants to take you away from your spiritual growth.  The question we have to answer is… HOW do we get back into our momentum of spiritual growth?

Great question… now let’s answer.

1. You need to be involved with a group.  Men’s group, Ladies Group, Singles Group, Couples group.  We were made by God to fellowship with our brothers and sisters.  When you are involved in a group it forces us to be held accountable to our studies and quiet times.  Even if it’s just for a short time throughout the week.. it’s SOMETHING.  I personally feel that SOMETHING will keep your walk on target.  Maybe not growing strong, but on target for the next GROWTH SPURT that the Lord has in store for you

2. The obvious in them all is PRAYER, and MEDITATION on the Word.  As we begin to meditate, and pray its like eating a potato chip  your spirit will yearn for more and more.  You can’t help but to want more.

So… begin with the baby steps, get back into fellowship.  Join a bible study, and watch the Lord begin to CREEP back into the forefront of your life!

You know that term “You are what you eat?”.  Well we are going to see in this Daily Christian Inspiration that “You are what you think” as well.  Surrender your thoughts to change your mood is exactly what God says in Proverbs 23:7“As a man thinks in his heart and so he is”.  Our thoughts change our moods.  When I think negatively it changes my mood to match.  My wife is always quick to say “something is bothering you” when I’m in a bad mood.  She knows I am thinking negatively.  This negative thinking also brings on stress.  When you are in this negative mood, you need to act quickly on the surrender method because people don’t like to be around negative people.  Its a cancer, it brings down everyone.

Daily Christian Inspiration

It actually brings down EVERYTHING around you, from your mood to your thoughts, to your body.  Your head droops, and your slump over.  People who are unhappy cannot stay content, they cannot focus.  Sometimes it’s even hard to keep friends because nobody wants to be around you because when a negative person sees one thing wrong, they tend to fix their minds on it.  Any enjoyment that comes along is quickly gone because it is blocked by all of the negativity.  How can we fix this?  We have to surrender our thoughts and stop the “waiting” for something good to happen, and take action to ensure that something good will happen.

God made our minds so powerful, that when we truly think about something it effects so much around us, and most importantly effects our own mood, and physical body.  We can make ourselves happy or sad by simply choosing what we think.  Surrender your thoughts because they hold the power of contentment, joy and sadness.

In Galatians 5:22 God gave us the ability to have self control.  You can control your thoughts as you surrender to Him.  You need to make that choice.  You need to realize that there’s a battle going on in your mind, and you can make that change to be what God has called you to be.  Don’t let your thoughts go out of control.  Surrender to Him daily and think good, positive thoughts, and know that HE is the one that will fill your cup with the Joy, and the Love for the day and the moments in your life!  Now, to this day I am not completely free of the battle that takes place in my mind, but I am learning more and more how to discipline my thoughts and surrender to Him what needs to be surrendered.  It takes time, and it takes practice.  I practice the art of surrender even when I don’t need to.  If I am in a good mood, I still surrender to him, and repeat a positive thought in my own mind.  I don’t want Satan to have any footholds in my life.

Daily Christian Inspiration

The other day I was in my garden and their was a few cucumber beetles eating away at my cukes.  I quickly got my Neem Oil out, and went to work to organically remove these nasty critters.  I look back on this and I see that I needed to start the process of removing the beetles before they even settled in.  I make it harder

One of the hardest things to resolve to as a human beings at times is admitting that we are wrong.  Everyday, I seek to surrender my wrongdoings.  I seek to let God take control of my thoughts and my attitude.  It’s not an easy task.  Do you know why?  Because our “HUMAN” side can’t surrender to the fact that the word “I” is to blame for 95% of our problems.  When we surrender OURSELVES to God we say “AMEN”.

Daily Christian Inspiration

Do you know what “AMEN” means in the GREEK?  It means, I agree.  When you confess to the Lord the daily issues that you face, when you surrender to the will of the Father, when you say “AMEN”, you are agreeing with God that you have an ISSUE or a PROBLEM in whatever area you have a problem in!  It all starts with SURRENDERING the blame to God, and when you do that you are looking in the mirror and seeing your own s’I'n.  You are seeing the part of you that is dirty, and I have some really really really good news!  The sin and the PRICE has all been paid for through HIS GRACE!

Some people love to push their problems, and blame others for what they know in their own hearts is wrong this is what you would call DISPLACEMENT, but when we surrender it all to God, there’s no DISPLACEMENT.  There only TWO PEOPLE

Daily Christian Inspiration

that are dealing with the ONE ISSUE, and those two people are YOU, and the Holy Spirit!  So let’s start by admitting, and agreeing with the Lord God Almighty that the issue is YOURS.  You have to start by saying “I am an alcoholic” or “I am addicted to…..” or “I did THIS”, or “I can’t stop doing this”.  You can’t keep standing their saying “SO AND SO made me like this”.  You need to take ownership of the issue.  That’s true character.

Now… once you surrender the blame to God and take ownership of the sin, it’s time to receive the GRACE that He gave, and wash yourself clean.  Take a look at Daniel 9:13.  It’s time to seek the Truth of  God.  ”Find the favor of God by turning from our sins, and seeking His truth.  Living up to the TRUTH of the Holy Spirit. ”  Repent, turn the other direction, admit and agree with God that you have the issue, and now let’s go a little farther and look at 1 john 1:9 to receive His forgiveness.  ”He will purify us from all unrighteousness”.  What’s so neat about that verse is not only does he FORGIVE IMMEDIATELY, but He now PURIFIES us from the UNRIGHTEOUSNESS!  He is going to turn you from it!  He FREES you and turns you from it.  Do you know why HE does that?  BECAUSE… YOU CAN’T!  That’s the beauty of surrender!  I grew up with the term “God helps those who help themselves”.  I used to always tell that to my wife, and she would always get mad at me, and tell me… that’s NOT what God’s Word says.  I never believed her, I always said, you need to DO IT, and DO IT right NOW!  You are the maker of your own Destiny!  Well… that’s far from the truth of God’s Word.  You see, I had to learn the hard way.  God only helps those who CAN’T help themselves, and NOBODY can help themselves!  So when we surrender the blame we are agreeing with God that it’s our issue, and then we receive HIS GRACE to wash away the sin, and allow HIM to clean us for the unrighteousness.  Don’t do it in your own strength because your own strength will never last.  If you’ve done this with honest surrender, it will last an eternity.

Now, I’m not saying you’ll never ever fall to sin again, but I’m saying that you will move farther and farther from it the more you practice this.

May the PEACE JOY and Love of Jesus Christ be with you today, and everyday!

Dean

I’m a sucker for a GOOD Country Tune! Born and raised on the Blues, and Jazz, but this little DIDDY is pretty cool!
There’s “Ain’t” nothin’ you can’t do without HIM!

(Matthew 6:33) – “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” – As you start your day- actually it’s Gods day, (Psalms 118:24), Seek God first in every situation, before you do anything else, before you act emotionally, before you worry about it, before you complain, before you try to figure it out in your own natural mind, your first thing should be to pray and seek Gods will, His way, and His direction in every circumstance and situation you face throughout the day. When you pray first, give thanks, then act, you may lessen the chance of you getting ahead of God, making an unwise choice, or not representing the kingdom of God, of which you belong if you profess Jesus Christ. Purpose to please God first and foremost, be focused in your faith, bold in your belief, precise in your praise, and confident in tne midst of trials and tribulations, and keep first things first. Peace, blessings, and

Daily Christian Inspiration

love!!  You know you can’t help but to prosper emotionally as you begin to practice these basic principles.  You can’t out lose with God!  You can’t fail with God, you can only win.  Remember.. THIS IS NOT OUR HOME, you are storing treasures in HEAVEN.  We are here, not to fullfill our WILL, but the WILL of the Father!  As God wants it… so It will be!

Seek Him by surrender, Seek Him by letting go.  Let the Will of the Father RULE your life through radical obedience, and watch the Blessings Pour OUT from Heaven Above!