I still have joy

I still have joy after all the things I've been through I still have joy. What a song of victory to all who sing it. This song is often in my spirit because no matter what I go through the joy of the Lord is my strength. Joy is much deeper than happiness. Things are usually going well in your life when you are happy. Happiness involves some kind of "happening" or "event" to make you happy. But not with joy. All hell can be breaking loose around you and you can still have joy. The Book of James says in James 1:2 to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials." How in the world am I supposed to count it all joy when everything around me is falling apart? The answer is by faith. If you continue to read this passage of scripture you will find vs. 3 "knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." Oh no, not patience! Why do we need patience in a trial? We need it so we won't go off the deep end. Our enemy, the devil, wants us to lose all hope of coming out of our situation. We can't give up before the battle starts. A lot of us see the battle approaching and surrender to the pressure of it. We can't afford to lose the fight before we even get started. God will bring us through victoriously every time. But we must stand and have joy while we go through. Trouble and difficulties are tools used to refine and purify our faith. We don't like this method of refining but we will eventually come out as pure gold. God wants us to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Arriving at the destination of perfection and completion in God is done through trusting God. Trusting God requires trusting His Word. The Word says to "count it all joy" and that is what we have to do. It won't be easy but we have to know the reward is greater than the battle. COUNT IT ALL JOY BECAUSE THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH!!!! Just a thought.....

I haven't stop writing on my blog. I will email soon when I get back on track!!!

Words, again

I am sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. I have really been soul searching. I want to write what the Lord puts on my heart. The purpose of this blog is to build up and not tear down. So this morning after meditation and listening to Bill Winston preach, I think I have something to share. I want to talk about one of my favorite subjects, "Words." Whether we believe it or not, we are the product of our words. Words are a powerful force. Proverbs 18:20-21(Amp) says "A man's (mora1) self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied(whether good or evil). Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or life). Wow!! Our words can bring life or death to us or our situation. Solomon says we are to be satisfied with the consequences of our words. Ouch! I don't want to be satisfied with "broke or "sickness!" I want everything the Word says I can have. I want my words to put me over and not under. Yes, there are other contributing factors to our lives. People talk and say things that hurt us. But God gave us a solution to that problem in Isaiah 54:17. It cancels all negative and destructive words spoken against us. But what about what we are saying about ourselves and our situation? We have power in our mouths to change our world. I once heard a televangelist say blessings come our way every day but our mouths can turn them from us. That's powerful! Once I received what he was saying, I starting changing my confession. I started saying things like "This is the day the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24 I also starting saying what Deuteronomy 28:1-14 says about me. I refuse to chase my blessings away. God wants us bless. He tells us to call those things that are not as though they were. Romans 4:17 Call for financial blessings if you need them. Call your spouse blessed and highly favored. Call your children blessed. Whatever you need, you have the power in your mouth. You can never go wrong saying what God says. His Word is the final authority. It is already settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 You have to line yourself up with the Word. You can't say anything and expect a different result. You can't say, "I'm broke" and expect to be rich. You are working against yourself like the Scribes and Pharisees. They were always trying to trap Jesus. But what they were really doing were trapping themselves. In Matthew 12:33-37, Jesus says, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." If you are a Christian, then talk like a Christian. A true believer is going to say what God says. The Pharisees looked like they had it together but didn't. Don't Walk the Walk, if you are not going to Talk the Talk!!! Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. What's in you will come out of you, faith or fear. The choice is up to you. Change your words and you will change your world. Just a thought...

A word to the women

Are you a "good thing?" If you are married, you know the scripture I am referring too. If you are not married, and want to get married, you need to familiarize yourself with this scripture. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon states that when a man finds a wife, he finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverb 18:22 Let's break down this verse. When a man finds- this connotes a man looking for something. As a woman, we need to be in position to be found. We are not to go looking for a man. I know we all at one time or another pursued a man but that is not the biblical way. God wants the man to be the hunter. The next part says a "wife". What is a wife? The Webster's pocket dictionary says "a married female." Of course that doesn't tell me anything. There are a lot of married females out there. A great description of a wife is found in Proverbs 31:10-31. All women, married or not, should be a Proverbs 31 woman. This woman has her husbands best interest at heart. She puts herself last and her family first. Her worth is far above rubies. She is priceless in my opinion. We are priceless. Never ever sell yourself short. Back to Proverbs 18:21, he finds a good thing and obtain favor from the Lord. You are a good thing to your husband. If you are not married, dedicate your heart to God. Be a "good thing" for Him. When the appointed time for marriage, He will lead you to the right place to be found. A good thing pursues the heart of God. She wants to obey God. She desires to please God. She wants intimacy with God. Married or not, God is the one we should be pleasing. When we please Him, we will please our spouses. It takes work to be your husband's good thing but that is who you are. You need to refer to yourself as his good thing. He gets a reward for choosing you. He obtains favor from the Lord. I have started speaking this scripture to God. God promises the man favor because of his "good thing." Women listen up--YOU ARE A GOOD THING!! Live like it. Talk like it. Act like it. I know marriages or relationships in general are not easy. Rely on God to help you. He knows each individual person. I can only speak for the woman. We have to really show our husbands love and respect. We are not in competition with them. We are to complement them. I heard this quote once and liked it. A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that the man has to seek God before he can have her. Wow!!! What a profound statement? The man that is pursuing you should first be pursuing God. Prepare yourself, woman of God. God called you a "good thing." He wants to give your husband favor because of you. You first have to give your all to God before you can give your all to your husband or future husband. You are a GOOD THING!!! Just a thought.....

Believe God's report

Whose report are you going to believe? Isaiah 53:1 This is an important question that only you can answer. We are constantly bombarded with bad news. The tv, the newspaper, the radio, our relatives, our jobs, our children, and sometimes the church. Uh, oh I said the church. I get tired of hearing church people sound just like the world. We have to be different. We can't repeat the negativity of the world. We are told in Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are told not to be like the world. I expect the world to operate in negativity. They are in darkness to the things of God. We are supposed to be the light that shines in darkness. But instead we act just like the world. We are saved. We are supposed to prove the acceptable and perfect will of God. How do we prove it? By believing and acting on the Word of God. The Word is the final authority. The world says that if your relatives had cancer you probably will have cancer too. The devil is a liar. The world also says that certain groups of people are supposed to be on the bottom. The Word said we are the head and not the tail.(Deuteronomy 28:13) We must find scriptures to stand on. I refuse to accept the lies of the enemy. Yes, it takes faith to believe that God will change the situation. But guess what, He will. You have to trust God and His Word. The Word helps you to renew your mind or change your old ways of thinking. God wants you to think like Him. He said to have the mind of Christ. So in essence, we must think like Christ thinks, also. Your thinking must line up with the Word of God. If it doesn't, the enemy will always defeat you. You have a choice to believe the Word or not. Sickness and disease have to bow down to Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24. Poverty and lack have to bow down to Psalm 23, Psalm 112, Psalm 68:19, Philippians 4:19, 2 Corinthians 9:8, 3 John 2. Hopelessness and sorrow have to bow down to Nehemiah 8:10b. There are so many lies the world wants us to believe. We must believe the report of the Lord. He is able to do exceedingly, and abundantly above all we can ask or even think according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:20 Believe God's report! Tell the world and it's lies that you have already won. God said so in 2 Corinthians 2:14, and 1 Corinthians 15:57. Once again, BELIEVE THE REPORT OF THE LORD!!!! It's Good News or God's News!!! Just a thought....

Just a thought... I was wondering what would the world be like if everyone loved one another. It would be such a wonderful place. We would not have to worry about anyone hurting us at all. In 1 Corinthians 4:4-8, Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... What a powerful description of love! Is this type of love impossible? Can we truly give up "self" and live by this scripture? Yes, we can. This type of love removes selfishness. It is awesome. Love is Who went to the cross. God is Love!!!1 John 4:8 God could have been selfish and said let them pay for their own sins. Thank God, He didn't. He knew that we couldn't save ourselves. We must imitate God. He loves unconditionally. As I stated earlier, love is not selfish. Yes, you are supposed to love yourself. But you are also supposed to love others. If you see your brother or sister having trouble, do something to help them. Love is a very strong emotion. One kind act. One kind word. It will go a long way. Why not start the love process today? Think about it. If one or two of us started to love the way God said to love, we could possibly change the "world" we live in. Will you give love(agape) love a try? Jesus told us in Matthew 22:-40 to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves.(paraphrase) The world or your world is what you make of it. We can change our environment one "love" step at a time. We are commanded to love. Meditate on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 It is the key to changing your world and the world of others. Be Blessed. Love never fails...

Ephesians 2

I got excited this morning during my prayer time with the Lord. He directed me to Ephesians 2. I have read this scripture so many times but this morning it exploded inside of me. I literally saw why the saints were not experiencing the true riches of God. I said to the Lord, we are missing the whole point of salvation. Paul said we are saved through grace. We don't deserve salvation no more than anyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.(Ephesians 2:4-7) These scriptures blessed me this morning. They showed me a part of our Christian walk that we are totally missing. We have been raised up together with Christ. We are sitting with Christ in the heavenly places. He saved us to bless us. He has given us divine partnership in His kingdom. He wants us to work with Him. We were not saved by grace just to go to heaven. We were saved because God wants us to work with Him in saving the lost. He wants to show us His kindness. What a benefit for partnering with God. The people in the world will never change if they see us broke, busted, and disgusted. They have to see "how serving God" will benefit them. If you are sick, broke, life falling apart, and always having a bad day, guess what, the sinner will not serve your God. Operate like Jesus operated. Take thou authority. He gave us authority over the enemy. Luke 10:19 We have to value our partnership with Christ and obey His commands. He loves His children and wants the best for us. He wants to openly show us off to the world. Jesus was our example. God wants us to operate like Jesus did on the earth. He needs your cooperation to bless you so you can bless others. Accept the fact that you are seated with Him in the heavenly places. You have kingdom rights. Satan is defeated. YOU ARE BLESSED!!! Receive your blessings today. Christ and you are joint heirs. What Christ has and what he has done is what you have and what you should be doing. As He is, so are we in this world.(1John 4;17b) Get a revelation of Ephesians 2. Just a thought....