The joys of facing persecution

There is something wrong, when I see a believer, walking around living a perfect life with no struggles! This sounds harsh, I know, but it's true isn't it? We are blatantly told in scripture that those who follow the living God WILL face trials and persecution! So what am I saying? I'm saying, it is time to stop living in your little cave of "me and God" and start going out into this world and making a change in peoples lives! It is when we really start making a difference that the devil begins to attack us, because he is scared and knows we are a threat! 

Today, my fellow warriors, I am making a call to war! Come out of your shell that you have been hiding in, make the devil hate you! For it is by loving Gods people that this happens! I am calling you to make a difference in this world, to speak into peoples lives, even when it seems futile! Even if it means losing something dear to you! When The apostle Paul made a choice to fully and radically follow Christ, he had to face trials, he spoke to his students and he said, "I have been warm and I have been cold, I have been starving, and I have been fed, I have had everything I could ever want, and I have had nothing, and I have learned to be content in these things, for I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!"

Let's have that radical faith that puts us in want! That radical faith that causes us to have enemies and to face trials! And that radical faith that says, "I don't care about these things, for God is my strength!" Amen!

Fix my eyes

So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6 NLT)

You know, we have this idea that all the trials, all the pain, all the stress that we face in our lives have an actual lasting effect on us...but it doesn't. The only truly lasting thing in my life is Jesus Christ, for what can mere people do to keep me from Him? 

I urge everyone this morning please, fix your eyes on Him, and the more you look upon His glorious majesty, the less this world can hold you down! God bless you guys!

Godly peers

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. (Hebrews 10:23-25 NLT)

Good fellowship, with God loving peers is so important! Who better to encourage you to walk forward in The Lord than the one who is walking on the same path? It is our God given responsibility to speak encouragement into each-others hearts, and to motivate each-other to Love like the Father Himself first Loved you! I pray that these words touch your hearts tonight the way they have touched mine, and that I can encourage each of you reading this, and that you will do the same for others on this road! Praise God, for He has put a call on your lives. God bless each of you. Amen.

Knowing what to say

In 1 Peter 3:15 it says to be ready to answer questions about your faith, to answer why you have hope! And I put forth this, do not be content with simply saying my hope is in Jesus Christ who died for me, but instead to say, I have hope in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! I have hope in the God who calls upon the broken and the weak and turns them into greatness, in the God who has so much love for His children, that even when they deliberately turn away, He calls then back with open arms and says, "My child was dead, but now he has returned and is alive again!" I have faith in the God who took 300 men with torches and pots to defeat an army of 150,000 trained warriors! And I have faith in the God, who sent His one and only begotten son Jesus Christ, to be beaten, whipped, and crucified, for me; if it were just me, He still would have made that sacrifice! Amen.

The time is NOW

The God of the heavens and the earth says this morning, "the time is NOW!" The time is now, to take back what the enemy has tried to steal from us, what the enemy has thought that he fooled us out of! The time is now, oh you body of Christ, for an activation of your gifts. The gifts that are promised to is in scripture, for 1 Corinthians 12 says, "A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NLT)"

So gifts, oh stir in the hearts of the body of Christ, so I can look to your people, and say, "you, if you know prophesy than prophesy, if you speak tongues than speak with a passion and if you interpret find a speaker of the spirit! And if you can heal and perform miracles do it!" 

The Lord your God has not made a mistake, I look into your hearts and see someone who is scared to take a step, that you don't trust yourself to properly carry out the gifts given, but the King of heaven looked into your hearts the day you were born and He said, "Yes! This is my champion." And God said it was GOOD! So go, my brothers and sisters in boldness, and know that your Father is with you every step of the way, and He trusts you and Loves you so very much. Amen!

Strike back

Today I come with one purpose; to strike back against the spirit of abandonment, of fear, of regret, and of sorrow! I command every pain that is tugging on your hearts today to be broken in two, to be thrown so far away that they are not even a memory! In the name of Jesus Christ, I proclaim that regret is meant for those who have no future, and I say to each of you today that you have such an incredible future ahead of you! To abandonment I say, go, for you cannot be abandoned so long as one soul love you, my God does, I do, and so many more do! I speak against fear, the fear that you made a mistake, the fear that you will not overcome this hill, and say, yes, yes you will! To the spirit of sorrow I say, no darkness can stand in the presence of the King, the King of Joy and of peace, and of sound mind! I say sorrow, back down, for you shall not prevail! I speak joy into your lives today, for wherever joy lives, sorrow cannot remain!

And to each mother, each precious mother, who loves their child, and worries about them, and protects them, and speaks the truth into their lives, I say well done! You are a champion among us, I know it, and your child knows it, so I pray a very special blessing over each of you today, for you are so precious in the eyes of the King, and He will rain His blessings down on you. 

Amen.

True Thanksgiving

I come to you with a question this morning, how can I not thank God for the incredible things that he has done in my life. How can I not thank Him for the beauty of the rising sun, or the intent behind and artists brushstrokes? How can I not be thankful for the people in my life that I don't deserve, how can I not be thankful for words when I don't know what to say? For strength when I've come to the end of my strength? How can I not be praising the King of kings in my every waking moment when it is so evident all that He has done for me, and all that He has done for you? How has being thankful become an outdated concept in this world, when that is literally almost the only thing that we can give back to God?

So this morning I have one challenge for you, to say thank you, to make a list of the things you know were given to you, and still be thankful for the things that you DON'T know! Be thankful for your difficulties and trials, and the pain that makes you stronger! Say, " Praise The Lord, for His plans are not my plans, His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts!" For that kind of glory my friends, is reigning in your lives today, right here, and right now! And He is telling you how He cares for your heart, how He loves being with you, and all He asks is for you to simply know Him! And when you know Him, you cannot HELP but thank Him, because if you know Him, you know true love, a love that nothing and nobody else could ever provide you with! So thank you Lord, for always being greater than I could ever expect!