Change Your Focus

1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ~ Psalms 73:1–19

Today, we Christians have taken our eyes off of the eternal.

    • We no longer look to Jesus
    • We no longer stand on His promises
    • We no longer rest secure in His Word
    • We no longer take comfort in, “Thus sayeth the LORD.”

When we look to Hollywood and celebrities for guidance, when we look to our politicians and our representative for hope, or when we completely abandoned Jesus and His promises, we will be greatly disappointed because the majority of the time, the politician does not necessarily have our best interest in at heart.

I wish the Church would get back to the Biblical truths instead of getting in bed with the enemy.

The Psalm we just read is a prime example of the Church today. We’ve fallen spiritually asleep because we are too caught up in the tv shows, Hollywood, and the rich and famous that we seem to think that they are our best friends, and we are prepared to fight tooth and nail to defend them.

Christians are prepared to get up at 3 O’Clock in the morning to watch the royal wedding but can’t get up for 10 am to go to church. Hmmm!

The world and all of its delicacies is constantly trying to woo us over. We see them driving the nice cars, and some have their own jet. They live in huge mansions with exquisite Olympic pools and beautiful gardens. And it’s easy to get lost in all the noise, but we have to stand firm. We have to focus on the Almighty. We have to turn our attention to God because it’s only through Him that we have life. If we don’t, we’ll remain in a spiritual slumber that will lead to a spiritual death.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Change Your Focus.

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Take Your Turn

12 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ~ John 14:12

There is no other plan, which when translated means, “There is no other plan!” We are it…It’s our job to finish the job. Not finishing the job of salvation but spreading its good news. Continuing the good work that Jesus started. What the problem is, is that folks read in the Bible that when Jesus was on the Cross, He uttered His famous last words, “It is finished.”

And therein lies the problem…They take that to mean that all the work is done; we have nothing left to do. But it doesn’t mean that at all. It means the work of Salvation has been done; we can do nothing more to enhance that work; that was for our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ to do; IT’S OUR TURN NOW!

The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave lives in us. The same Spirit that caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the sick to be healed lives in us. In the last days, God said He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. We are in the last days. We’re in the days that anyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. We’re in the last days that the Spirit of God dwells in His people. We have been given a Spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Your Turn.

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Hold To Freedom

In 1775 our founding fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence, their plan for our physical freedom from the tyranny of the British crown. The following year, they made that plan a reality, and today we still benefit from that declaration that all men and women were created equal with the right to liberty and justice.

Before the foundation of the world, before man or woman was created, God drafted the plan of Salvation. 2000 years ago, He fulfilled His plan through His Son, Jesus Christ, so that anyone who wanted freedom could receive freedom. Today we still benefit from the freedom that Jesus bought for us that day on that old rugged Cross. We still have the same freedom the early Church had through the redeeming and cleansing blood of Jesus.

Freedom has been given to us physically, mentally, and spiritually, yet we still oftentimes choose the spiritual slavery of sin and the physical and mental slavery of ignorance. Why? Why do we return to slavery when we were created to be free? This is the lies of the enemy; he promises us cookies and cake if we give up just a little of our freedom and liberty. But as soon as we give up a little, he takes it all, and we are left with nothing. The dark side has no cookies, no cake, no security: only darkness, hunger, and slavery.

Don’t be fooled by the deceitful tongue of the enemy; his intentions are not for your good but for your destruction. He’ll show you how unfair and difficult it is to keep your freedom, but don’t let him beguile you. Don’t let him trick you with ‘the grass is greener on the other side.’ The grass is greener in freedom. Freedom of religion, speech, and assembly. Freedom from sin and ignorance. Freedom in the Truth. Hold to your freedoms, and don’t give them up. Don’t allow the enemy to deceive you; hold tightly to the Truth that is Christ Jesus. Hold tightly to your freedom, lest it be taken from you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold To Freedom.

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The Spirit of Que Será, Será

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11

God has a plan for each and every one of us. He has good things in store for us. His desire is for our good, but if we don’t take it. If we allow our words and our actions to go unchecked, then we will miss out on all that God has planned for us. We have to tune in to God. We can’t ignore or expect someone else to speak good things into our lives. We have to do it ourselves through prayer and declaration. What we hear in the spiritual, we must proclaim in the natural.

Think about this:

God planned the world, and every one of us, before the foundations of the Earth were laid, from the eons before time began, He planned the sun, the moon, the stars, but until He proclaimed, “Let there be light,” there was no light.

When Ezekiel was taken to the valley of dry bones, nothing happened until Ezekiel began to prophesy.

This “Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” attitude we Christians have, is not a Biblical concept. This “Whatever God has for me, nobody can take it away from me” attitude is a spirit of apathy that is taking over the Church. We no longer care to fight for what God has in store for us. We just want everything handed to us, and if we miss something, we don’t care because we think, ‘well, it just wasn’t for me then.’ But is that how it is?

I want to remind you that the Israelites were led out of Egypt heading for the Promise Land. That was their promise from God. He had that in store for them, but did they receive it? No! they most certainly did not. So, who took it from them? You’re right, nobody took it from them, but disobedience and unbelief DID and WILL.

If you want to enjoy all God has in store for you, you have to slay a few giants. You have to break down a few walls. You have to fight a few wicked nations. Nothing in life comes easy. You have to fight your flesh, your spiritual attacks, and in some cases, physical and mental attacks from others. As a Church, we have to start proclaiming our blessings again. We have to proclaim our promises again. We have to get rid of Que Será, Será.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Overcome the Spirit of Que Será, Será.

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Watch and Pray

32 But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake. ~ Mark 13:32–37

What I say to one, I say to all, “Stay awake.” In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked His three companions, Peter, James, and John, to stay awake and to watch and pray so that they would not be caught out and fall into temptation.

On February 3, 1943, the troopship Dorchester went down in the icy Atlantic off the tip of Greenland with heavy loss of life. The torpedoes struck around 1 o’clock in the morning. Orders were that every man was to wear his lifejacket whether awake or asleep, but many of the soldiers ignored those orders and were caught sleeping without their lifejackets on.
Through fright and confusion, there were several men still without lifejackets after all the surplus stocks were handed out. Due to this, the loss of life was very heavy.

We have such a mandate. It is to stay awake, watch and pray. Jesus is coming back soon. He had given us our independence from sin, so we wear our salvation like a lifejacket. Do not be caught in the middle of the night when the torpedoes hit without your lifejacket on.

Dear Heavenly Father. Please help me stay awake and to watch and to pray so that I will not be caught without my life jacket on. Cover me with Your protection, and teach me to listen for and to recognize Your voice. Thank You, Father, for Your love and Your salvation, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Delight Yourself In the LORD

4 Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. ~ Psalms 37:4

Why must we delight ourselves in the LORD? The word delight means “to give great joy or pleasure to.” In other words, you have, or you get great inward joy out of worshiping the LORD. It is not a chore; it is a pleasure, and when it becomes a source of joy. Then God will give you the desires of your heart.

The word desires mean:

1. To wish or long for; crave; covet
2. To ask for; request

God is saying, “If serving Me brings you pleasure and is a source of great joy to you, then answering your prayers will bring Me great joy and will give Me great pleasure to give you what you ask for.”

We have to desire to love the LORD. We have to desire to serve the LORD. We have to desire the LORD above everything. That’s when our desires begin to be given to us because our desires begin to be for good, not evil. We begin to change.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Delight Yourself In The LORD.

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Pray Even In Babylon

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. 3 Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, 4 youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. ~ Daniel 1:1-4

The enemy always tries to take us back to the land that the LORD has rescued us from. The LORD called Abram out of Ur of The Chaldeans. And now, several generations later, the people of Israel gave into temptation, and the LORD handed them over into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He then goes on to not only take vessels from the Temple and put it in the temple of his gods, but he took the young men of Israel who were wise, well-educated, good-looking, and understand learning. He took the best of the best back to his land to reteach them and indoctrinate them.

He took them back to the land that God had called them out of. He not only took them back but tried to re-education them. He taught them the language and the literature of the Chaldeans. The literature isn’t just funny stories; the literature would be filled with their religious beliefs and rituals. The same religious beliefs God called Abram out of, yet Nebuchadnezzar dragged them back into it.

Even when we think that we’ve overcome something, if we slip in one area and refuse to repent and turn away, then the Devil will have a foothold in our life and will pry open enough room so that he can drag us back into our past. He will try to re-educate our religious beliefs, our very language. Our language is the way we communicate; it’s our impact on the world. If the Devil can change our language, then he will change our actions, and we will fall back into our old habits.

But don’t be discouraged. Even though Daniel was taken as a slave back to the sinful land his ancestors were called out of, he wasn’t overcome by sin. He overcame sin. Even if you have given in to sin and you have been dragged back into the generational curses of your past and/or ancestors, if you turn to God, you will overcome. You could be thrown in the fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and God will be with you. You could be thrown into the lion’s den like Daniel, and God will be with you.

Don’t let the past have any say in who you are today. Instead, call upon the name of Jesus, repent, turn from your sins, and you will be saved. You may not be pulled out of Babylon the moment you repent, but you will overcome Babylon the moment you repent because Jesus has overcome your past for you. All you have to do is follow Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray Even In Babylon.

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Keep Your House Full

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. ~ 1 Samuel 16:14

When the LORD rejected Saul, the Spirit of the LORD left him, and a harmful spirit filled him instead. Saul did not do all that the LORD had commanded him to do. He heard the words of the LORD. He was anointed by the LORD. He was king of the people of the LORD, yet when he refused to obey the words of the LORD, it was as if he gave the Spirit of the LORD an eviction notice. And because the Spirit of the LORD departed from him, another spirit, not of God, took up residence in him.

Our body is a house that must remain full. This is why Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters and that we must abide in His love. If we obey Him, we will abide in His love, but when we live in disobedience, we are evicting Him from our life. When we evict the LORD, then we welcome unclean spirits into our lives. We welcome sin, torment, stress, pain, anger, evil and wickedness of all kinds.

When the LORD left Saul, he was never the same. Fear, anger, regret, and envy overcame him. What do we allow to overcome us by disobeying the LORD? Sin is crouching at the door, just waiting for the opportunity to move in and take control of our lives. We have to stay on guard. We have to obey the commands of the LORD. We have to seek righteousness, holiness, and goodness. Because what we seek, we will find. Most of all, we have to seek the LORD so that our house is never empty.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep Your House Full.

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The Dangers of Growing Cold

20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. ~ Judges 16:20

Samson had grown so spiritually cold that he couldn’t feel when the Spirit of the LORD left him. Samson had become spiritually asleep. He was the Judge at the time. The leader of the people of Israel, and yet, even he succumbed to the distractions of this world. And when the Philistines came, he could no longer defend himself. Samson had become just as weak as everyone else. He had become human.

This still happens to us today. We allow the distractions of this world to slowly wean us off of God so that we don’t even realize that we are no longer abiding in His love. They distract us with our jobs, family, friends, past, television, riots and chaos, depression and grief, and every kind of temptation known to man. The world keeps us so busy that we forget to make time for God, and we stray from His protecting presence. Then when the world attacks, we are like a sitting duck. We have nothing to protect us.

But just as God redeemed Samson when he humbled himself and called out to Him, so will He redeem us when we humble ourselves and call out to Him. Our God didn’t die on the cross and rise again just to leave us in chains and slaves to sin. No matter what we’ve done or how far we’ve run, God will always come running to our rescue when we bend our knees and call on His name.

LORD God, please awaken the sleeping spirit within us. Let us hear Your voice and feel Your Holy presence once again. Help us to be aware of the distractions of the world surrounding us, that we might not fall into any trap set before us. Guide us on our journey back to You, LORD God. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Be Like a Sentry on Guard

2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful. ~ 2 Samuel 11:2

The application here is that David had become spiritually lazy; he found himself in bed instead of out fighting the war with his soldiers. We are in a war, a spiritual war. A battle for our souls and the souls of our family, our friends, our congregations, our neighbors, those we know, and those we don’t even know.

We cannot afford to lie on beds and fall asleep while the battle rages all around us, we need to be doing what God has called us to be doing, and one of those things is our private time. If David was in his private time, he would not have been where he was not supposed to be, and not gazing at another man’s wife and lusting in his heart.

Spiritual laziness leads to spiritual slumber, and that’s exactly where David found himself; spiritually asleep. David started to think in his mind. He probably even fantasied about her. David had several wives by then, so it was not like he needed yet another. But the lust of the eye, as John wrote about in 1 John 2, got the best of him.

That is why we can’t let down our guard for one second; we must always be on the alert like a sentry. God warned Cain that sin is always on the attack; it never sleeps because it knows what it wants. You are what it desires. So, stay alert, armed, and ready to defend yourself from all attacks of the Evil One.

Dear LORD God, please awaken our sleeping spirit within us. Help us to stay awake, guarding our minds, hearts, and eyes as a sentry guard’s the gate protecting all inside the walls from any and all intruders. Help us to grow that we might not become distracted during our private time, prayer time, worship time, or Bible time. Help us to be on guard that we might successfully defend all attacks of the Evil One. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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