One Church Under God!

“No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” Psalm 33:16-22 NKJ

Most Christians in America are up in arms over the fact that the words “under God” may be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance as if those words recited in schools and at sporting events have some kind of power to shake the foundations of terrorist nations who are looking to destroy us. The greatest power we have to shake the foundations of terrorist nations is the power of a unified body of believers whose hope is in God, who are united together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and who adhere to another word in the Pledge of Allegiance, which is the word indivisible. Webster’s defines indivisible as: “Not divisible; incapable of being divided, separated, or broken; not separable into parts.”

Is this the church of Jesus Christ the world sees when they look at us? Or do they see a church that is divided, separated, broken into pieces, which operates more in fear of doctrine being threatened than in the hope of the Lord as their strength? Do they see a church who believes in the unfailing love of God, who really believes that His love delivers them out of death at the moment of salvation? Do they see a church who believes their God keeps them alive in famine or do they see a church that operates in fear and hordes what they have in their storehouses? Do they see a church where the people’s hearts rejoice and trust in their God and who stand firmly behind His shield of protection, believing by faith that He delivers them from the hands of their enemies?

We can pray all day long for the soldiers on the battlefield but in reality those soldiers do not have the ability to deliver us from the hands of our enemies, only God does! And until the church of Jesus Christ becomes a unified, indivisible body we will not see the power of God to save us from our enemies be released on the battlefield! Look at all the accounts in the Bible where God showed His power on behalf of His people and you will find that every time He gave specific instructions to be unified in purpose and mission. And each time the people listened, they were delivered and their enemies were destroyed! But the instructions weren’t just given to the armies; they were given to the entire population of the people who the armies represented.

I believe James tells us what the problem is and what we have to do if we are going to see the power of God released in our nation and on foreign soil. In James 4:1-5 he says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?”

When he says adulterers and adulteresses He is referring to spiritual adultery, not physical here. The body of Christ is to be one body completely committed to the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, not seeking the pleasures of the world or our own agendas based on manmade doctrine or standards of holiness. This is spiritual adultery and it has divided the church into fragmented pieces and is the cause of quarrels and fights among us. If we are going to see the armies of our nation succeed on the battlefield, the people of our nation who claim faith in Jesus Christ must come together as instructed by God and be unified under the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

Then and only then will we see the power of God released on our behalf and “one nation under God” will become more than just a recited line of the Pledge of Allegiance! And when the world looks at us they will tremble and fear for they will see the power of our God who is at work on our behalf to deliver us from our enemies. They will see that our hope is in our God who is mighty to save and though they may try to defeat us; their attempts will fail every time because greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world! I want to encourage you to begin to pray for the church of Jesus Christ that we will become “one church under God, indivisible, with the liberty and justice of Christ in all” and for the people of this great nation, who profess faith in Jesus to become unified under His Lordship and to stop quarreling and fighting amongst ourselves.

Prayer: Jesus prayed this prayer for us in John 17:9-11. Let us pray it together today and every day for the body of Christ. ““I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.”

Trust In The Lord With All Your Heart And Learn To Choose Wise Counsel!

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJ

Every day I drive by a sign advertising a palm reader who is ready and willing to gouge the pockets of vulnerable people who are desperately seeking help in knowing what direction they should take in life. They ask about future relationships, finances, kids, business deals, etc. hoping that this person can guide them into making right decisions. What is interesting to me is that millions of people really believe the palm reader has some kind of mystical power to see into the future and they are willing to pay their hard earned money to listen to their lies!

God is the ONLY One who can give trustworthy counsel on how to direct our lives so we make it to our destinations. But the difficult part in knowing this truth is trusting in Him with our whole heart because along the way there are always diversions and distractions that make it seem we are on the wrong path. It is so difficult when what we see in the natural realm appears to be the exact opposite to what God has promised! I know this reality too well and I can assure you that entrusting my heart completely to God in times where things seem impossible is not an easy thing to do. One thing I have discovered is that in these times it is best to be very selective with whom we share our situations with because other people can influence us and cause us to adopt a mindset of doubt which can lead us to rely on our own understanding.

Proverbs 15:21-22 says, “Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, but a man of understanding walks uprightly. Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.” Many people read Scriptures like this and use them as their justification for sharing, but in actuality they are doing themselves a disservice because not all the people they are sharing with are wise; which means they will not give wise counsel. So how do we trust in God with our whole heart and how do we identify the people who will give us wise counsel and pray for us with the decisions we have to make on our journey of faith?

In order to trust in God with our whole heart we have to believe by faith that He is trustworthy. Think about this next statement for a minute and see if you can identify with it. We all have people in our lives who we would say are trustworthy but if you were asked to entrust your children, finances, etc. to them, you would say no. Why? Because deep down inside we all struggle with trust issues due to past wounds or let downs by people who we thought could be trusted. What we have to realize is that we have these same trust issues with God. I have encountered this reality many times during my life and each time it was a sobering time of reflection when I had to face it.

But as I sat with God and acknowledged how faithful He was to me in times I couldn’t see it or didn’t feel it in the past; I was able to release the fear I had in thinking He wouldn’t be faithful now. Another sobering reality I had to face was the fact that I had hidden judgments against God and I had to release those. Both of these exercises of faith enabled me to entrust my heart fully to Him for my present or future needs. This has been the only way for me to learn how to trust God with my whole heart. I now keep a mental list of all the times God was faithful and when I am in need of direction in the way I should go; I bring that list to remembrance and it reminds me that God is a trustworthy God.

I have to say as hard as these two exercises of faith were; they were nothing in comparison to choosing the people I share my situations with. But I am learning daily how to do this too. The Scripture I bring to remembrance during the process of choosing is Philippians 2:1-4. Paul says, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Being like-minded is defined as: having a like disposition or purpose: of the same mind or habit of thought. What I am learning is how to identify like-minded, faith filled, people who believe in the destination God has called me to, whatever it may be. In this process I have discovered that most people are not a match for me, but the ones who are, are a gift from God because their counsel is invaluable! They diligently pray for me, encourage me, build me up, and correct me if necessary and they do all of it in a spirit of love. With my heart completely entrusted to God and with a network of like-minded counselors, every path I need to take becomes easier and easier to identify.

Prayer: If trusting God with your whole heart or choosing wise counsel is a struggle for you I want to encourage you to spend time with God and ask Him to give you wisdom and understanding as I did. Be willing to release your fears or judgments so you can entrust your heart to Him. He is so faithful my friend and He will answer you when you call on Him. Spend time praying for the people who you can call on for wise counsel and if there are people you typically share with, who are not a match, practice being silent the next time a situation arises and wait on God to show you who you are to seek counsel from.

The Journey To Discovering The Joy Of Christ’s Rest!

In this devotional I am going to be very candid and straight forward in hopes that you will come to understand as I do that serving God is the most incredible and joyous experience one can ever have on this earth. It took years for me to come to this place of understanding because for years serving God was very hard work that didn’t come with much reward, because at the end of the day I felt I had let Him down somehow. There was always more I could do, more people I could have reached with the Gospel and better ways I could live my Christian life. I would fall into bed each night exhausted from my efforts of trying to please Him. And on days when I felt that I had done a pretty good job my mind would be consumed with thoughts of my own failings and personal flaws.

But then one day I woke up and read Hebrews 4:1. It says, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” I sat there and pondered the words of the writer because rest was the last thing I felt in my Christian walk! In fact rest was absent and non-existent in my life! Every day I strived to please God in my thoughts, words, and actions, and every day I tried to be the best Christian who was always leading people to faith in Christ. But in all my doing right, my very being was stripped of rest! I loved God more than anything but serving Him was crippling me. After reading this passage I sought the Lord for wisdom and understanding.

After several months of study and reflection I came to realize what had happened. I had missed the most important meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection for those who believe in Him! His REST! At the moment of my salvation I became a new creation whose hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness! The requirement of me to keep the laws of God or to please God with my good works were done away with and my sins were forgiven; once and for all, for all time! And God does not see me as a wretched sinner, saved by grace. He sees me as a beautiful creation in Him because at the Cross His Son’s blood washed me clean of the filthiness of sin, even before I was saved! And through Jesus’ death and resurrection, I can be rest assured that Christ in me is the hope of glory, not me trying to serve God perfectly through my own efforts and strivings! In these truths there is great joy and rest for the person who comes to understand them! This is where all striving ceases in trying to be the perfect servant of God through religious and self righteous efforts!

As I began to realize that for years I had introduced people to a false doctrine of self works supported by religious living my heart sunk within me! The tapestry of my Christian life began to unravel at a rapid speed as I sat there in the presence of God and repented of my foolish ways. I asked God to show me what His image of me was so that I could understand what David meant when He wrote, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.” (Psalm 51:12-13) As I prayed the Spirit led me to Zephaniah 3:17 and I read, “The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

I sat there in silence as the Spirit of God did a great work in me! As I allowed the self made tapestry of my Christian life to unravel, the Spirit of God reminded me of Romans 8:1-4 that says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Oh the joy that welled up in me as I read passage after passage that day of God’s incredible love for me and His desire for me to acknowledge the work He did in me on the day I believed that He sent His One and Only Son to die on the Cross for me! I began to say “the joy of my salvation” over and over again in my mind! I said, “I have entered His rest and no longer have to strive to serve Him or please Him” and “His Spirit has been given to me and that Spirit is the Spirit of life”! In an instant the heaviness of my soul was lifted as I felt the yoke of slavery to self works and self righteousness lift from my neck and I felt myself being yoked to Jesus and the finished work of the Cross! My heart was filled with gladness and I felt a sense of peace and rest come over me that I had never felt before!

When I walked away from my time with God that day I had a new mind that was filled with the images of the beautiful work God had done in me at the moment of my salvation! This inspired me to serve the Lord in a whole new way that wasn’t burdensome and taxing. And every day as I get to proclaim His love for His people and introduce them to the only One who can save them from death, there is a skip in my step and a joy in my soul and at night when I lay down; I am filled with peace knowing I have finally come to understand what it means to enter His rest.

Is this something you too would like to experience? Have you lost your zeal in serving God because it is too hard because you can’t live up to the standards you have set for yourself in what it means to be a Christian? Do you need the joy of your salvation restored? Do you need to know that God delights in you and sees you in the perfected image of His Son? I want you to know that what I have experienced is available to you if you will take the time to allow Him to unravel the tapestry of your self-made Christian life too and if you will allow Him to introduce you to the truth about who you are as a new creation in Him! If you will do it I can promise you will experience a joy beyond anything you can think or imagine and a rest unlike anything you have ever experienced before!

Prayer: Spend time asking God to reveal any areas of your Christian life that are still wrapped up in self-works or self righteousness. Ask Him to reveal the joy of your salvation by helping you embrace what Christ in you the hope of glory, truly means. Allow Him to rejoice over you with gladness and to reveal the truth about what happened to you when you said yes to a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ! He is faithful and He will answer you.

Are You Willing To Lay Your Isaacs Down?

“Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.” Genesis 22:9-10

I can’t even imagine what emotions were flooding Abraham’s soul as he took the very promise of God and laid him on the alter that day! Twenty five years he waited for the opportunity to hold the promised son in his arms, and now God is asking him to sacrifice him. How can this be? But that is exactly what God instructed Abraham to do and Abraham obeyed! Would you obey?

"But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:11-12

What was God looking for when He asked Abraham to sacrifice his son? He was looking for his heart! He had no intention of allowing Abraham to kill Isaac! He didn’t want Isaac! He didn’t need Isaac! He wanted Abraham! He needed Abraham! But He didn’t just want Abraham’s life, He wanted His heart!

“Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” Genesis 22:13-14

I am not sure that would have been my response if it was me. In fact I know it wouldn’t have been! But I am so grateful it was Abraham’s response because it is the hope I cling to with every promise God has given me for my life. Over and over again I find myself saying, “The-LORD-Will-Provide and I will put my faith and trust in Him for all the things He has promised!” I then go to Romans 4:13-25 and make my declaration of faith, knowing that what God has promised, He will perform! (Verse 21) What has God promised you and do you believe that He is able and willing to do it?

“Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:15 -18

Did you notice that God did not speak the fullness of the promised blessing until after Abraham was obedient to lay Isaac on the altar and put his faith and trust fully in God! And it is the same for us. Until we are willing to be obedient to lay the Isaac’s of our lives on the altar, releasing total control to God; we will not see God provide or hear God speak the fullness of the promised blessing! God wants our hearts to be so completely entrusted to Him that we do not question whether or not He is willing and able to perform that which He has promised! He doesn’t want our Isaac’s! He doesn’t need our Isaac’s! He wants us! He needs us!

God has an assigned kingdom work to be done through every person who has said yes to Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” But in order to walk in them we must first be willing to release our control of them to the only One who can fulfill them!

I don’t know what your Isaacs are. It could be your children, your spouse, your future spouse, your finances, your job, your ministry, your health, your friendships, or a number of other things, but until you are willing to lay them down, trusting God completely with your whole heart; you will not see the manifestation of what God has promised and He will not be able to give you an even bigger vision of your future. This is the lesson I have come to learn and it is a daily exercise of faith to release my control to the only One who can perform what He has promised. But what I can tell you is the flood of emotions that fill my soul when I am taking the step of faith in laying them down, do not compare to the elation and joy that comes when I see God provide each and every time I am obedient to do it!

His promises are greater than anything we can think or imagine and when we are obedient, He is faithful to fulfill! I want to encourage you today to entrust your heart and your Isaacs to God, knowing that He who began a good work in you, will complete it! (Philippians 1:6)

Prayer: I release control to You oh Lord and I am confident that You will perform what You have promised for my life! I choose today to lay my Isaacs down and give You my heart completely, knowing that You are the God who provides! I will wait patiently on You in faith knowing it is just a matter of time before I see the manifestation of Your Word come to pass in my life! I praise You for being faithful to me and I will put my trust and hope in You and You alone! Amen

We Must Become As Little Children!

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” Matthew 18:1-5 NKJ

I can just imagine what this scene must have looked like as the disciples came running toward Jesus to ask the question about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I can almost see them looking like Donkey on Shrek, jumping up and down shouting, “I know! I know! Pick Me! Pick Me!” And I can envision the expression on Jesus’ face as he looked past them and called the little children to come to Him. One thing we have to remember when reading this passage is that the disciples had already witnessed many miracles and that Peter, James, and John had already seen Jesus transfigured on the mountain top. But even after these events they still came summoning Jesus to tell them who was the greatest in the kingdom!

One would think it would be pretty clear to them who was the greatest and yet even after witnessing such amazing miracles; there was still a competitive spirit in operation that made them want to vie for first position! But the humbling reality for us to accept is that this same competitive spirit is a common trait in all of us. I will admit that there was a time in my life where I wanted to be the greatest and the best, and the competitive spirit drove me in many aspects of life, including my Christian walk. And I can tell you that if I had been there that day I would have been the first disciple at Jesus’ feet, elbowing everyone out of position to make sure I was first.

But not anymore! Since coming to understand Jesus’ words in this passage my only desire is to give honor and glory to Him because He is the ONLY ONE who is worthy to be called the greatest in the kingdom of heaven! Now my passion in life is to sit at His feet, learn from Him, and worship Him, so that when people look at me; their eyes are drawn to Him and they want to know Him, learn from Him, and worship Him too!

And when I get to heaven I want to be found doing what Revelation 4:8b-11 speaks of. It says, “Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and have their being."

The way to ensure I continue in this posture of reverence and a mindset of humility and the way for the entire body of Christ to operate in this mindset is to follow Jesus’ command to be converted and to become as little children. The word converted means to be changed, transformed, or to exchange. In this case it would mean to change from a mindset of pride or arrogance that is driven by a spirit of competition into a mindset of humility and reverence that is driven by a teachable spirit, like that of a little child.

Little children are completely dependent and teachable! They know they are incapable of meeting their own needs and they are very aware of who they have to go to in order to have their needs met. They may want something they see but they know they have to ask for it and then wait until it is given to them. They also are not ashamed to make their needs known and to ask for help if they don’t understand something. They may try something new but if they fail they don’t beat themselves up; they look for someone to teach them how to do it. Little children love openly and are quick to forgive and they don’t hold grudges when others hurt them. They are not judgmental and they accept people no matter how different they are.

Their goal in life is to live it to the fullest in a mindset of discovery and to learn all they can from those who can teach them what they need to know to grow up into the people they are created to be. They are vulnerable and forthright in their interactions with those in authority and put their total trust in them! And they never try to take charge of their own lives because they realize that in and of themselves, they are incapable of providing what they need, which keeps them in a mindset of dependence. These are truly kingdom qualities! Theirs is the example we need to follow in our relationship with Jesus and in relationship with each other! It is the anecdote for pride, arrogance, and the competitive spirit!

We have to come to the place where we are totally dependent on Jesus and where we seek Him with our whole heart for our every need and desire! We have to be willing to admit we don’t know it all and ask Him to lead and guide us! We have to be willing to make our needs known and not be ashamed ask Him for help when we don’t understand something or need something! We must realize our own inabilities and look to the only One who can teach us how to become who we are created to be! We also need to treat each other with love and we need to be quick to forgive and not hold grudges against one another when we are offended or hurt.

With this mindset in operation we will stay in a posture of reverence and humility that is driven by a teachable spirit. We will also only desire for others to see Jesus as the greatest in the kingdom and we will direct their attention to Him, instead of drawing attention to ourselves. Let us come together and pray that the entire body of Christ comes to this realization so we will be able to reach the world with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and lead them to a saving knowledge of Him; where they will have a desire to sit at His feet and learn from Him too! And one day we will all join together in heaven and say, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come!

Follow In The Footsteps Of Those Who Have Gone Before You!

With every step I take on the journey of faith I see mountains and valleys of unfamiliar terrain ahead of me. At times I wonder how in the world I am going to make it through to the other side since I have never been this way before and I don’t even know what I will need for my journey. Every time I embark on a new journey in unfamiliar territory, I spend time asking God to show me the way. He always leads me in the way I should go, and oftentimes He tells me to follow the footsteps of those who have gone before me.

During these times I always reflect on Hebrews 12:1-2. In the Amplified Bible it says, “Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

After I meditate on this passage the Holy Spirit begins to remind me of the heroes of the faith that are listed in Hebrews 11 and throughout the Scriptures. He also gives me images of modern day heroes of the faith for me to think about. As I ponder the images of these heroes many times I close my eyes in quiet meditation and think about what they faced and how they dealt with it. Their stories of perseverance, faith, trust and patience are exhilarating and inspiring! As I think about them, I begin to get a new image of the valley or mountain I know I am about to traverse. But this time what I see is completely different than what I saw before. I see footprints in the sand, markings on the trail, and signs along the road that were left by those who have gone before me on the journey of faith as an encouragement to me to keep moving in the direction God has called me to go.

In His great and amazing love for us God knew we would need examples to follow on our journey of faith and He made sure their stories were recorded for us to reflect on in times when we are getting ready to embark on a new leg of our journey. Of course Jesus is the center focal point of who we are to follow in how we live, love, and relate. But in God’s incredible sensitivity to our frail human nature, He also set before us men and women, just like us, as examples to show us that we too, can make it through to the other side of the mountain or valley.

Our responsibility is to look for those whose journey is similar to ours and draw from their experience so we have a compass to follow in how we traverse the unknown terrain in our lives. Sometimes we look at what they did right and follow their lead and other times we look to what they did wrong and learn from their mistakes. But either way they have gone before us and we can gain wisdom and understanding that will help us on our own journey of faith.

For example if we are facing a mountain of forgiveness we can look to Stephen who like Jesus, cried out in his last days for God to forgive those who had wounded him. If God is calling us into ministry we can look to people like John the Baptist, the Apostles, and other modern day men and women who have lived their calling with determination, character, and purpose. If we are facing a valley of darkness and fear crouches at the door of our hearts; we can look to people like David, Elijah, Esther, and others who walked through their valleys and came out on the other side to glorify God for His faithfulness. If we are facing a mountain of adversity that seems too impossible to overcome we can look to people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, and many others who listened and obeyed God and then through faith and patience, inherited the blessings.

Whatever mountain or valley we face in life Jesus faced, and so did many other people who have gone before us and they have forged a trail that leads to the other side. When we understand this and we look to them as our compass and our guide, we will not feel all alone and we will be strengthened in our faith; knowing that God has made a way where there once seemed to be no way. The hope, joy, and exhilaration that comes when we look at a new leg of our journey this way is so incredibly empowering that you can’t help but rejoice before the Lord and sing praises to Him for His incredible love for you. What mountain or valley are you facing today? I want to encourage you to begin viewing them as a time to be built up and encouraged by the stories of the heroes of the faith who have gone before you.

Prayer: Begin praising God for His love and for His faithfulness in giving you examples of those who have gone before you on the journey of faith! Ask Him to reveal stories of people in the Bible and modern day testimonies for you to draw from for your own journey. Also ask Him to bring people into your life that have been where you’re headed and can encourage you by their testimony of what God did for them when they were going through it. He is faithful and He will answer you.

The Voice Of Truth Tells A Different Story!

“And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:23-24 AMP

There was a day when I used to listen to the inner voice that reminded me of my past failings, my inabilities, inadequacies, fears, and limitations. It seemed no matter how hard I tried to quiet the voice it would grow louder as the day went on. By the end of the day I would doubt my ability to be a wife, mother, friend, minister of the Gospel, etc. and I would go to bed overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness. Then one day an inner voice spoke that sounded different than the voice I heard in the past. It was a still, quiet voice that said, “Holly do you know how precious you are to me and how proud I am of you?” I thought to myself, “Precious? Are you kidding me? And what in the world is there to be proud of?”

I tried to ignore the voice because the words were so contrary to the truth I knew about myself. But as the day went on it got louder and louder! Finally the voice said, “Holly, What you think is truth, is a counterfeit lie because there is only one truth and I AM that truth and to me you are precious and I am very proud of you!” It was at that moment when I realized the still, quiet voice was the voice of the Holy Spirit and I decided to listen to what He had to say. By the end of my time in His presence something changed inside of me. I walked away from that interaction with the Lord, a changed person!

Now whenever my own inner voice of doubt comes or when accusations come from an outside source I make a conscious decision to renounce the lie and I ask God to help me to embrace His truth about me. I must admit it is very difficult at times but as I am obedient to take those thoughts captive, He is faithful to replace them with a beautiful picture of who I am in Him. On days when I blow it and revert back to thinking and speaking negative words about myself, He is right there to catch me when I fall into that temptation.

As I meditate on His Word and spend time with Him, in times of prayer and praise, He reveals more and more of my true inner image that is fashioned and formed in the true righteousness and holiness of my regenerated self as a new creation in Him. It is so important for us to remember that God sees the perfected image of us when He looks at us.

When we see a failure, He sees an opportunity to turn it into a testimony of His faithfulness! When we see an inability, He sees an opportunity to show the world His ability to do the impossible through us! When we see an inadequacy, He sees the opportunity for the fullness of Himself to work in and through us to produce an unimaginable work of greatness! When are afraid, He sees an opportunity for His Spirit to enable us to walk in power, love, and a sound mind! And when we see limitations, He sees an opportunity to show the world the limitless power of His Spirit working in us to perform His purpose!

It is also important for us to remember that no matter how much we have failed, fallen short, back slid, or operated in the flesh, greater is He that is in us! The creator of the universe lives and moves and has His being in us and He has created us in His image! When you begin to wrap your mind around that truth you begin to understand that with Him all things are possible! The feelings of doubt and fear begin to dissipate, and you begin to realize that you are so much more than what that inner voice of doubt says! You begin to be empowered to renounce the voices of condemnation and accusation, and you begin to embrace the truth about who you are as a new creation. You also begin to deal gracefully with yourself when you slip back into old patterns of thinking and you don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake. You see failure as a time when God is faithful and you are quick to turn your thoughts back to the truth about who you are as a new creation and you don’t dwell in the negative mindset very long.

Do you struggle with an inner image of yourself that is contrary to the truth about who God says you are in Him? Do you battle with thoughts of doubt and fear because you are focused on your past failures, inadequacies, inabilities, and limitations? I want to encourage you to spend time with the Lord and ask Him to show you His image of who you are. I want to encourage you to write those truths down so you have them to reflect on in times when you are overwhelmed by those thoughts. You may even want to get a voice recorder and speak the truths out loud so when you are down you can play them back as a reminder. I have done this and I can tell you it is a very powerful tool to help you renew your mind because your brain believes your voice. Also I want to encourage you to choose a couple of trusted people who you can call on in those times who will help you through it. I have two women who do this for me and they remind me of my worth when I can’t see it.

Prayer: Spend time with God and ask Him to speak to you and to remind you of your value and worth. Ask Him to give you His eyes to see the truth about who you are as a new creation in Him. Ask Him to reveal who the people are who you can call on in your times of weakness. He is faithful and He will answer you. Begin a daily routine of telling yourself the truth and when a doubtful thought comes, take a time out and renew your mind to the truth of who God says you are in Him!

The Greatness Of Our God!

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass. For I proclaim the name of the LORD: ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” Deuteronomy 32:1-4 NKJ

From my lips each day I proclaim the greatness of our God and I fill my time with reading accounts of His great works in the pages of the Bible, by reading personal testimonies, and by listening to worship songs, but no matter how much I try to comprehend His greatness; He is greater still! Everywhere I look I see His greatness! From the butterfly who is in its cocoon attached to my patio wall, to the falling star that just shot across the sky, to the miracle births of my children, His greatness surrounds me each and every day! And yet there is no way to really fathom just how great He is because He is so much more than our minds can contain!

Each day I pray I will have eyes to see more of who He is so that I stay in a place of reverence for Him when I encounter times of anxiousness, doubt, fear, worry, guilt, or shame. It is in this mindset of reverence where I am held captive by His love knowing that He is so much greater than my circumstance and able to exceedingly, abundantly more than I can think or imagine! And yet even in
these times I cannot fathom His greatness!

Each day I pray I will have ears to hear His voice speak to me. I sit in times of silence and press into Him through quiet meditation. Sometimes He speaks in a still soft voice by His Spirit. Sometimes He speaks through His Word as I read the Scriptures. Then there are times He speaks through an interruption of the birds singing outside my window or through the voice of one of my children calling to me when they have a need. And other times He speaks through the sound of thunder and rain that is pounding outside my door and other times He speaks through a friend who is comforting me in during a time of need. And yet even in these times I cannot fathom His greatness!

The vast greatness of God is so much greater than what we try to define it as. The greatness of God holds the heavens in place! The greatness of God holds our faith in place! The greatness of God quiets our doubts and fears and at the same time it is providing oxygen for us to breathe! His greatness crashes on the shore in the form of a thunderous wave during a mighty storm and at the same time it is forming a pearl in an oyster shell far beneath the waves! It forms the baby in the mother’s womb and at the same time it is keeping a satellite in orbit! It heals the body from sickness and disease while at the same time it is forming an oak tree out of a tiny seed!

The greatness of God cannot be contained or restrained by anything in the heavens or on the earth or under the earth! I believe one of the greatest tactics of the devil is to get us to minimize the greatness of God in our minds so he can convince us that we can be overcome. He uses the deception of a great trial or tribulation to get us in a mindset of anxiousness or fear. He uses the deception of doubt so we do not believe God for what He has promised. He uses people to wound us in order to get our eyes focused on flesh and blood because he knows if we are focused on who our real enemy is we will battle in the spirit and put his works to death.

In order to overcome his attacks we have to constantly stay in a mindset that beholds the greatness of our God! It is only in staying focused on His greatness where we are empowered to believe by faith that He has overcome the devil and He is working in us to perform His Word on our behalf! It is where we are strengthened to stand in faith until we see His Word manifest in our lives! It is where we are filled with hope knowing that greater is He in us than he that is in this world! It is where we feel His presence in the midst of life storms and are comforted by the peace that passes understanding, knowing He works all things for our good!

The greatness of God is what holds us in place in His love by encompassing us with His grace when we stumble in our faith! It fastens us securely to the hope of glory as it reminds us that Jesus has already overcome the world and prepared a place for us to dwell forever in peace! The greatness of God surrounds us and if we are willing to fix our eyes on Him and see Him in everything in this life; we will not be able to keep silent in our faith! We will live each day to proclaim the name of the Lord to the unsaved world who desperately needs Him and we will be able to build each other up and encourage each other in the faith! May we all come together as one and fix our eyes on the greatness of our God so we are able to fulfill the Great Commission and prepare the way for our Savior to return!

Prayer: How great are the works of Your hands oh Lord and how vast is the greatness of Your works. I stand in awe of Your presence that surrounds me and today I proclaim Your greatness in the earth. May I continually fix my eyes on You and the greatness of Your love for me and Your provision for my life! Though my mind cannot contain the enormity of Your greatness I choose today to keep my mind securely fastened to it in faith so I am not overcome in the temptation to doubt Your words of promise! Amen

What A Faithful God We Serve!

“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:9 NKJ

When we packed up my mom’s house last year for her move to Illinois one of the things we came across was her prayer journals. I asked her if I could have them. She agreed but she asked me why I wanted them. I told her I didn’t know why but I just wanted to have them. I packed them up and took them with me. Several months later when I was going through a tough time I was literally in my closet, face down on the ground praying and crying out to the Lord. As I lay there a voice spoke to me and told me to look up. When I did I saw the box with the prayer journals in it. I stood up and grabbed the box off the shelf and opened it up. I took out the first journal and began to read. It was filled with page after page of prayer requests and Scriptures verses. One by one I read through the journals.

I was blown away by what I read! In the pages of those journals were hundreds of prayer requests, Scriptures, and answered prayers. I began to think of the people whose names were written, including myself, and the number of praise reports revealing God’s faithfulness to all of us! It reminded me of what Joshua said in Joshua 23:14. He said, “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed.”

I sat there in silence thinking about the struggle I was going through where I was wondering if God was going to be faithful and answer my prayers concerning my children, ministry, marriage, and living situation. I began to cry as the Lord gently reminded me of His faithfulness and told me to recount all the times He had been faithful to me in the past. One by one I made a mental list of seemingly impossible situations where God was faithful and my heart began to be quieted and hope began to well up in my soul. My time of weeping turned into a time of praise and I began to thank God for His faithfulness and incredible love for me!

I took each prayer journal and placed them back into the box and then I got up off the floor and went about my day in a mindset of praise and adoration. Over the next several months as my struggles continued I went back to the closet frequently and read through those journals as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to His people. When God recently answered all of those prayers I had prayed that day I was filled with an awe and wonderment in my soul and a reverence for God like never before. He is faithful and He does hear and answer the cries of His people!

In times like these we have to remind ourselves of past victories so we can believe in faith for the good things that have spoken concerning us during our current situations. We have to say as David said in Psalm 18:2, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” We have to allow God’s Spirit to comfort us and allow Him to speak to us so we don’t lose heart in the midst of our distress! God loves us so much that He has given Himself to us through our faith in Jesus Christ and by the power of His Spirit at work in us to remind us of His faithfulness!

God is always faithful and not one word He has ever spoken has failed! Hebrews 1:1-4 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Jesus is sitting on the throne at the right hand of God and He is our assurance that what God says concerning us will come to pass because it is our inheritance in Him. As we allow Him to work in us and remind us of the meaning of the Cross and His resurrection we are filled with hope for the good things which God has spoken concerning us and our doubts turn into prayers of faith. This is the lesson I learned from my mom that day in my closet and this is a daily exercise of faith for me with each new seemingly impossible situation I face in life! And this is my encouragement to you today as you face your own struggles. May you have your hope renewed as you reflect on God’s faithfulness to you in the past! May your countenance change as mine did that day and may you allow Him to give you a garment of praise for your spirit of heaviness! (Isaiah 61:3)

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart focus on Your faithfulness to me. I have to believe that You see my struggles and that You are at work bringing to pass all the good things concerning me. You are so faithful to me and I praise You for being my faithful Father and I put my hope and trust in You and You alone! Amen

A New Way To View Our Times Of Need!

Can you visualize what the atmosphere was like on the morning after God parted the Red Sea and delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians? I’d imagine that most of the people didn’t even sleep the first night because they were probably having the greatest celebration of their lives and praising God for His faithfulness and deliverance! Can you imagine how the mothers must have felt knowing that their children would not have to suffer the torture and abuse from the Egyptians anymore? And think about the men who had been reduced to mere slaves, who had no ability to protect or defend their families and what they must have felt like; knowing they were once again given the opportunity to lead their families! If you were one of them how long do you think you would continue in the mindset of victory and rejoicing?

I used to think that if it was me I could hold onto it for the rest of my life because if I had seen the Red Sea parted and knew I was headed in the direction of the Promised Land; I would be so faith filled that nothing could make me lose faith or get discouraged! But how long did the Israelites hold onto their victory mindset? We find the answer in Exodus 15:22-24. It says, “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

I used to read that and think, “Are you kidding me? If He could part the Red Sea do you not think He can provide you with water?” But I don’t do that anymore because I have come to realize a truth about myself that is so similar to what the Israelites experienced here and many more times in the forty year journey to the Promised Land! I discovered that the greatest distance to travel on the journey of faith is the road of believing that what God has promised, He is going to perform.

Sometimes I say in my heart, “God I am grateful for what You have done, but I am not sure I can trust you for what You have promised to do.” Over and over again, in the desert, God met Israel’s needs and over and over again they worried that He wouldn’t do it the next time. But the beauty of this interaction is what I want us to focus on today and that beauty is the fact that God was always faithful, even in their times of worry and doubt or times of grumbling and complaining. There were consequences for their unbelief but God never changed in His love for them and He still provided for them at every point of need.

And this is exactly what He does for us in our times of murmuring, complaining, worry, and doubt. But the most beautiful truth for us as New Covenant believers is that no matter how far we travel off the road of believing God for what He has promised; we are never left alone to find our way back by having to keep the laws of God perfectly! The grace of God has been given to us through Jesus and it is His grace that keeps us in place to receive that which He has promised; no matter how far we stray in our fleshly thoughts on the road of unbelief.

At some point when we are murmuring, complaining, worrying, or doubting, the Spirit of God comforts us and reminds us of His amazing love and faithfulness! And all we have to do to get back on the road of belief that leads to the land of promise; is to embrace the grace of God and to renew our minds to the truth that God supplies all our need according to His riches in glory! When we do this our hope for what God has promised is restored! The result of doing this is that the immediate need we are facing no longer looks like an obstacle that has the power to stop us from getting to the Promised Land God has prepared for us! Something else that happens when we renew our minds is we begin to view our times of immediate need as something to look forward to because we know that God is going to meet them in even greater ways than we can think or imagine!

This is what I am learning to do on a daily basis and I can attest to the fact that it is possible. But this can only happen when we are abiding in Christ and understanding that Christ is at work in us and that God is faithful to His promises! It is nothing we can do in our own strength because we do become weak on our journey of faith and sometimes immediate needs do look like gigantic obstacles! But when we make the decision to abide in Christ and allow Christ to work in us through His Spirit reminding us of His faithfulness; our eyes are opened and we see God at work and our strength is renewed to wait for Him to meet our need. This is my encouragement to you today as you walk on the journey of faith to the land of promise God has in store for you. He is with you and He won’t ever leave you in your need. He will always meet it and I promise it will be greater than anything you could ever think or imagine!

Prayer: Lord only You know my every need and only You can meet them! Remind me of this truth on days where I see a need as an obstacle that can keep me from my land of promise. I praise You for Your grace that is in place in my times of weakness when I give in to grumbling, complaining, doubt, or worry. Thank You for never leaving me to fend for myself and for always bringing me back to the road of belief by the power of Your Spirit that resides in me and is greater than my weakness! Help me to begin to view my times of need as an opportunity to watch You perform Your Word in even greater ways than I could ever think or imagine! Amen

I Can Only Be a Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ (Part Seven Of Seven)

“And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:7-13 NKJ

As we come to the close of this series on what it means to be a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ my prayer is that you are beginning to see what an honor and privilege it is to be set apart and chosen by Jesus to be a disciple. And as you choose to fill the position my prayer is that you have come to understand the importance of walking as Jesus walked in love for one another and the importance of following the lead of the Holy Spirit, so you are able to know what God’s will is for your life. I also pray that you realize it is God’s desire to answer your prayers and to produce fruit in your life because in these He is glorified!

If you ask most Christians if they believe God answers prayers they will say yes and if you ask them if they believe God performs miracles they will say yes. But then if you ask those same people these questions when they are in the midst of a battle oftentimes their answer is quite different because they will say things like, “if it is God’s will” or “I don’t want to put any demands on God so I am just praying He helps me get through it if He doesn’t choose to do a miracle.” Have you ever said things like this? I know I have many times but not anymore, because I have come to understand that it is always God’s will to perform His Word in my life and it is always His will to answer the prayers of His people.

Do you realize that answered prayer only bears testimony to God’s faithfulness to His people on the earth? Think about it for a minute. There is no need for answered prayer in heaven because there is no need in heaven. Everything in heaven is perfect! There is no sickness, disease, poverty, abuse, etc., so prayer is not even a part of the kingdom’s operation in heaven. Prayer is a part of the earthly operation of God’s kingdom and for the purpose of bringing the kingdom dynamics into the worldly realm. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” Jesus said is how we are to pray. Why? Because on earth is where the need for the manifestation of the kingdom is needed in order for people who do not know God to bear witness to the fact that He is the one and only true God and the only God who is worthy to be praised!

Once Christ comes back to take us home the people who have not accepted Him as their Savior face judgment and prayer ceases! There will be no second chances once Jesus comes back to see the fervent effectual prayers of the righteous man avail much. (James 5:16) This is why it is so important for the people of God to come to understand what Jesus is talking about when He says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15:7-8)

Look at the following passages where Jesus talks to us about prayer. Matthew 17:20, “So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 21:21, “So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.” Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

John 14:12-14, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” And Matthew 18:19, ““Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.”

The key to seeing the manifestation of answered prayer as a fruit bearing disciple can only come when we are being led by the Holy Spirit in what to pray because as we learned yesterday it is only God’s Spirit that knows the things of God. The will of God is His Word and it is His Spirit who performs His Word in us and is given to us to teach the things of God. It is in abiding IN Christ on a daily basis through prayer, meditation, and praise where our hearts will be turned toward receiving the promises that are manifested in us through the power and might of the Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6) And it is when we believe by faith and do not doubt where we have an assurance that what we have asked, we have received because if we are allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us when we pray; we are aligned with God’s will.

Prayer: May we all grow in wisdom and knowledge of what it means to be fruit bearing disciples IN Christ. May we all come to understand to the deepest level of understanding what it means to abide In Christ and to have His Word abide IN us, so we allow Him to perform His will IN us by the power and might of His Spirit as it works IN us according to His purpose. May we believe and not doubt that God answers the fervent effectual prayers of the righteous man and that we believe by faith that we are the righteousness of God IN Christ Jesus. May the world see Your kingdom come and Your will be done in the earth as it is in heaven. And help us to be the light in this darkened world so that those who do not know you and who live in the darkness, will want to become a part of the kingdom of light through faith IN Jesus Christ as they witness Your kingdom dynamics at work IN us. Amen

I Can Only Be A Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ! (Part Six of Seven)

We are going to shift into a new direction for the next two days as we learn more about what it means to be a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ. Have you ever watched a man and woman dancing a waltz in perfect unison? The sight is so breathtaking because it is almost impossible to tell where one person ends and the other one begins. They are in step, gracefully moving across the dance floor, in each other’s arm. Their faces reflect total peace and it is evident that they are one, and it is also evident that the woman trusts the man to lead her in the dance. Isn’t it even more amazing that our eyes are always drawn to the woman and how we don’t pay much attention to the man and yet without the man; the dance would be incomplete!

This is the image I want us to have in our minds as we go to the next level of discovering what it means to be a disciple whose life bears much fruit because it is an image of what it looks like when we live our lives in step with God’s will through the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. When Jesus died and rose again He did not leave us on the dance floor of life all alone to try and figure out how to move through life by ourselves. He loved us so much that He made us a promise that He would give us a new dance partner who will lead and guide us so we can always be in step with our Father’s will and desire for our lives.

In John 14:15-18 Jesus said, ““If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

What I want us to realize today is that we cannot operate in love, produce lasting fruit, or know how to pray according to God’s will unless we are being led by the Holy Spirit. But we have to accept the leading of the Holy Spirit and make a daily decision to follow Him. When He takes the lead and we follow, we move across the dance floor of life in perfect unison with our Heavenly Father. The image of a disciple being led by the Holy Spirit is the most breathtaking sight the world will ever see!

We have to remember that when the world looks at the church of Jesus Christ their eyes are drawn to us just like our eyes are drawn to look at the woman who is dancing the waltz. But the difference is that they cannot see our dance partner because their eyes are blinded; so their full attention is on us! This is why it is so important for us to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us because we want the world to see the beauty of the dance, of one who is united with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Another reason it is so important for us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit is the things of God are revealed to us by His Spirit and the fruit of God is given through His Spirit. If we can come to understand these truths we will become empowered to follow His lead. In 1 Corinthians 2:10-12 Paul says, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

If we want to see everlasting fruit manifest on our life branches and we want to see our prayers answered, we have to accept the leading of the Holy Spirit because only the Holy Spirit knows the things of God. In and of ourselves we can never know what God’s will is or the fruit He wants to produce in our lives. Neither can we know what things we ought to pray for because we are limited in our understanding. But the Spirit searches all things, the deep things of God and He reveals them to us when we allow Him to take the lead in our lives. Do you realize that being a fruit bearing disciple is the greatest testimony we will ever have on this earth but we can only become one if we abide IN Christ, operate IN His love, and accept the leading of His Spirit!

Abiding IN Christ, walking as He walked IN love, one for another, and being led by the Holy Spirit is what sets us apart from the world. If we are going to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ we have to have something different to offer them than what they are already receiving in the world. When they see the church of Jesus Christ abiding IN Him, operating IN His love, and producing fruit they have never seen before; they will begin to want what we have.

Prayer: May we come to understand the importance of being led by Your Spirit in our daily lives and may we come to the place where we no longer desire to dance alone in our own strength. Help us to receive Your invitation to dance in unison with Your will by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into Your truth for our lives. Help us to show the world the difference that Your Spirit abiding IN us makes, and may the image be so beautiful that they want to dance with You too!

I Can Only Be A Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ! (Part Five of Seven)

“But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” I John 2:5-6 NKJ
“He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:10-11 NKJ

Everywhere Jesus went and everything that Jesus did in His ministry on earth was motivated by His love for us! But He didn’t just make a profession of love with His words. He expressed His love by His actions, even to the point of dying on the Cross for us! True love always requires action! We are called to walk as Jesus walked in the fellowship of love, one for another, with the promise that when we do; there is no cause for stumbling in us. The word stumbling in 1 John2:10 means: stumbling-block or trap.

In 2 Corinthians 6:3 Paul writes, “We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.” The Greek word for offense is “skandalon” and is defined as a trap, a snare; any obstacle placed in the way and causing one to stumble or fall. So when we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, there is no cause for stumbling in us. And when we walk in the perfected love of Christ IN us among men; we won’t put a stumbling block in their path and our ministries on earth cannot be blamed. As we discovered yesterday we will be hated and persecuted as disciples of Jesus Christ just like He was, but when we walk in love they have no evidence to validate their accusations of offense against us.

It is very unfortunate that the world today can validate their accusations against the body of Christ because there is so much judgment, condemnation, and hatred among God’s own people. And kingdom dollars are not being used for the kingdom purpose of advancing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. They look upon the church and see expensive buildings and then look across the street and see starving children on the corner and they are offended. Another one of the greatest accusations from the world is that they do not see brothers and sisters IN Christ treating each other with love and respect and they don’t see the operation of love in the church. They see the internal battle going on in the body of Christ and they are offended by the hypocrisy and lack of unity and love.

If Jesus were walking the earth today and called all of the people who profess faith in Him together; I am certain we would be rebuked for not fulfilling the greatest commandment He gave us. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So much of Christianity is focused on dividing lines of doctrine that the true ministry of Jesus has been lost in-between the pages of man’s bylaws and standards of holiness. If we are going to make an impact in the world we must come together as one body that operates together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and we must walk together in love as He walked. He gave this commandment to His disciples, not to the world.

Going back to the company analogy for a minute think about the companies who have trainers in place to teach the new hires how embrace the vision of the company and how to accomplish its mission. They do this so the team can become a cohesive group who work together to fulfill the vision and mission of the company. If we can see Jesus and the disciples as our trainers; we will learn how to fulfill the vision and mission of God for His church. And the first training session is to learn to walk in love with each other and how to make love an action, not just a profession from the mouth.

The second call to action in walking in love would be in giving to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ so that the Gospel message could be advanced throughout the world, because until that is accomplished Jesus is not coming back for His bride. He said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) For centuries people have been saying Jesus is coming back at a certain time but as Jesus said in verse 36, ““But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” The only indicator that the end is near is when the Gospel has reached the ends of the earth and it is then when we know the hour is fast approaching. This is why one of the first training sessions for the fruit bearing disciples would be to advance the Gospel message. And when the Gospel message is preached the physical needs of the people in those areas are met as well.

In 1 John 3:16-19 John said, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.” The fruit God produces on the branches of His disciple’s lives was never meant to be kept in a storehouse or spent to erect massive church structures. It was meant to be used to advance the kingdom of God through the ministries that take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the world and to meet the needs of His people.

Prayer: May we all grow together in knowledge and wisdom in learning to walk as Jesus walked, love as Jesus loved, give as Jesus gave; so we can prepare the way for His return. Let us lay aside our foolish arguments that cause the dividing lines in the body of Christ and let us come together as one body under the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the head of the body. Let us love one another so there is no cause for stumbling in us and let us love in action as His body; so we do not give cause for offense and so His ministry in us cannot be blamed. Let us prepare the way as fruit bearing disciples so the Bridegroom can come to take us (His bride) to our rightful dwelling place where we will live with Him forever. Amen

I Can Only Be A Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ! (Part Four of Seven)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:5-8 NKJ

At the end of yesterday’s devotion we learned that love is the most important instruction Jesus gives us to follow. We also learned that we can only love ourselves and others when we understand that we love because He first loved us. With that understanding operating in us, love motivates us to think, speak, and act in accordance with God’s Word, which empowers us to become fruit bearing disciples who walk in His will. And the only way to do this is to continually abide IN Christ on a daily basis. We are only the branches of the vine and cannot do anything to nourish ourselves or bear fruit. Only the vine (Jesus) gives the nourishment we need for the branches of our lives to bear fruit.

Our self works of goodwill can’t do it! Our adherence to old Covenant laws can’t do it! Our trying not to sin can’t do it! And our trying to be holy can’t do it! It is ONLY in allowing Jesus Christ to will and work according to His good purpose IN us that can do it! (Philippians 2:13) Apart from Him we can do nothing! This is why it is necessary for us to continually abide IN Him as our source of nourishment. It is important to understand that our flesh is constantly being pulled in a direction that separates us from the vine because the flesh desires to fulfill its own will! But the person who is abiding IN Christ on a daily basis is not drawn away and enticed by his own desires because the intensity of God’s love is so great; he has no desire to be separated from the vine! It doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen, but after awhile you will find it occurring less and less.

Let me tell you there is nothing like the peace that comes when this happens! I used to try so hard to think right thoughts, speak the right words, and have the right actions; only to find myself failing miserably at it. The harder I tried to come against my flesh and its desires, the more I fulfilled them. But when I came to understand that God loved me so much that He sent His One and Only Son to die on the Cross for all my sins and to give me eternal life; I was filled with such an intense gratitude that I never wanted to be separated from the vine again. I wake up each day in such awe of that love that I want to spend time abiding IN Him through the Word, prayer, fellowship, praise, and ministering His love to others!

But what I will tell you is that it is one of the hardest things I have ever done because I know that with my decision to continually abide IN Christ and to allow Him to work in me to produce His fruit in my life; I come under great attack. The enemy and the world hate me and they persecute me for my faith and if you choose to be a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ they will persecute and hate you too. This is why so many people who accept Christ as their Savior never make the decision to become a disciple. But to those of you, who have take heart because Jesus has overcame the world and the rewards for making the choice to be a disciple are more than you could ever think or imagine!

Our loving Savior knew we would be persecuted and hated and He warned us and the disciples of it in John 15:18-20. He said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” But when you have lived the hard life in the world and given all you have to fulfill your flesh, only to be left abandoned and abused; you don’t care if you are persecuted and hated for His name’s sake.

He is the only one who has never left me or forsaken me and when I realized that God loved me so much that He would forsake Jesus at the Cross for my sake, I was willing to be hated and persecuted for His! I was also empowered to spend the rest of my life abiding IN and living for the One who died for me! It is hard sometimes because no one likes to be hated and there are times I have wanted to quit. But when I realize that if I don’t quit more people have an opportunity to be introduced to the One who can save them from death; I am filled with even more passion to continue persevering in my faith!

I am also filled with the love of God that has been shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) And as I allow His love to work in me, I am no longer afraid to love others, even those who hate me or persecute me. This enables me to see everyone through the loving eyes of Jesus, instead of my fleshly eyes of judgment, condemnation, or offense. The decision to abide IN Christ daily is what the action of faith is all about and it is what leads us to becoming disciples whose life branches bear much fruit. Have you made the decision to become a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ and are you willing to live for the One who died for you even if it means you will be persecuted and hated? If you haven’t, I want to encourage you to take the step of faith today. Decide to make abiding IN Christ a daily exercise of faith and believe by faith that He will produce a harvest of fruit in your life that is greater than anything you could ever think or imagine!

Prayer: Spend time praying for the people in the body of Christ who have not accepted the call to the position of being disciples. Pray they will come to know and understand the sacrifice He made so that they could live. Pray they will be filled with the desire to abide IN Him daily. And pray for the disciples who are being persecuted and hated around the world because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I Can Only Be A Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ! (Part Three of Seven)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:5-8 NKJ

As we come together into a deeper understanding of what it means to be a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ I will once again reflect on the operation of a company in the natural realm. When a person gets hired on at a company they are given an employee handbook that outlines the expectations of the company and guides them in problem solving procedures. This is done so the employee has the greatest opportunity for success and they are not left wondering what is expected of them as a team member. It also helps them identify who their “go to” people are if they ever run into a situation they do not know how to handle or if they have a fellow employee they are having a conflict with.

But in order for it to be effective in its intended purpose the employee has to read it and if they misunderstand any of it, they have to ask for guidance from a seasoned member of the team. The ones who do this have a greater opportunity for success than those who don’t. The people who don’t read it and only look to other people in the company to fill them in on the expectations of the company, have difficulty because they are basing their actions on someone else's interpretation of the handbook. And when trouble comes and they don’t know how to deal with it; they blame their inability on being misinformed, instead of taking responsibility for their own action of inactivity in not using the tool that was given to them when they were hired on. These people will never reach their full potential as an employee because they never have owned their position and did not grow in the knowledge of the company.

The Bible is our handbook and is given to us for the same reason. Everything we need to know to be a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ is found within its pages. For those who choose to accept the call to be a disciple and read the Bible for themselves, trust the Holy Spirit to teach them all things, and know who to go to if they are confused on any writing; are the ones who will reach their fullest potential and become a fruit bearing disciple. Those who choose not to read it and only rely on other people’s interpretation are the ones who struggle the most. They are the ones who do not grow in wisdom and knowledge and they never reach their fullest potential as a person who has been called to be a disciple. And when trouble comes and they don’t know how to deal with it; they will blame their inability on being misinformed; instead of taking responsibility for their own action of inactivity in not using the tool that was given to them when they accepted Christ as their Savior.

This is why it is so important for us to distinguish the difference of being IN Christ as a new creation at the moment of salvation and ABIDING IN Christ in order to become a fruit bearing disciple. When we are born again we are all given the opportunity to become disciples of Jesus Christ. But not all will make the choice to become one. In John 8:31b Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” So only those who abide in the Word, will grow in the wisdom and knowledge of what is needed to become a fruit bearing disciple IN Christ. If we want to advance to the fullness of our potential as fruit bearing disciples who lead others to the Lord and who mentor new disciples; we have to take personal responsibility for our growth in the knowledge of the things of God and read and meditate in the Word (our handbook). This is what it means to ABIDE IN Christ.

But you might say the Bible is so big and there are so many instructions, where do I begin to grow in the knowledge of the things of God? Our loving Savior knew we would ask this question and He tells us where to begin in John 13:34-35. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” And in 1 John 3:24 John says, “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” These two passages are the answer to our question of where to begin. We begin by understanding love and the truth that we can only love because He first loved us.

In 1 John 4:7-11 John said, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

So the path that leads to us becoming fruit bearing disciples IN Christ is to abide IN Christ by meditating IN the Word, seeking wise counsel in the body of Christ, and in receiving God’s love for us, so we in turn can love others. Every thought, word, or action that is motivated by love empowers us to be in relationship with other disciples in the body of Christ and empowers us to relate to the people who are still in the marketplace and have never become a part of the company (body). So this is truly the first instruction in our handbook called the Bible that we need to embrace, understand, and walk in if we want to become fruit bearing disciples IN Christ.

Spend time praying for the eyes of your understanding to be opened and for you to have a desire to read the Bible and meditate on it. Pray that God will bring seasoned people into your life, who understand how to rightly divide the Word of God and can mentor you in any areas where you lack understanding. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth and to grant you wisdom in the areas you lack it. Also ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand what it means to love because He first loved you.

I Can Only Be A Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ! (Part Two of Seven)

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:5-8 NKJ

At the end of yesterday’s devotion I asked you to write out what you believe would be God’s vision and mission statements for His company (body). How did you do? I asked my husband and son to do this exercise as well. Here is what my husband wrote for the mission statement. “My mission is to destroy the works of the devil and to deliver, save, heal, and restore My people to their original intended position of right standing, blessing, and dominion in the earth.” I love this! What an incredible word picture!

As for the vision statement John 15:5-8 is a great word picture of what God’s vision is for His people. A vision statement is unlike a mission statement because it is solely for the people within the company, not for the general public. It is a constant reminder to the people within the company of what you are wanting to accomplish and build. God’s desire is to build His church and in order to do it, the people within the church must have a clear understanding of how to execute His plan. And John 15:5-8 gives us that clear understanding. Abiding IN Christ and IN His word believing that Christ is constantly abiding IN us on a daily basis, is the key to successfully executing the vision and mission of God while we are on the earth.

Do you remember Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew 16:18? He said, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Jesus said this to Peter knowing that within a few hours Peter would act out in an outrage of anger and cut off the soldier’s ear and then choose to deny knowing Him three times, before men. But none of that knowledge scared Jesus! He knew that if Peter understood His vision and mission and constantly reminded himself of it; he would eventually make the decision to actively participate in taking his rightful position as a disciple and execute God’s plan to build His church!

Unlike Judas, Peter didn’t quit just because he sinned against God and God never fired Peter just because he sinned! On the contrary, Peter reminded himself of what Jesus said when He said, “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” and it empowered him to overcome the temptation to quit and reminded him that no matter what he did as an individual who acted out in his flesh; the gates of Hades could not prevail (triumph) over God or His plan to build His church!

If there had been a board meeting between God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and Peter after he sinned in his flesh; you would have seen Jesus reminding Peter of his appointed position as a disciple and reminding Him of his purpose in the company (body). You would have seen Peter asking what he could do to do his job better, and then you would have heard Jesus tell him to daily abide IN Him and allow His Word to abide IN him, so when the next temptation to sin came; he could stand up under it until it passed! You would have also seen Jesus introduce Peter to the Holy Spirit and tell Him He is a new member of his team who will be the One who teaches him how to fulfill his purpose in the company (body). You would not have seen a scolding session where they put Peter on a paid leave and made him enter a 12 step program until he was able to overcome his addiction to act out in his flesh! And you would have not heard Donald Trump’s famous phrase, “You’re Fired!

This is the key for all of us to understand if we want to become fruit bearing disciples of Jesus Christ and fulfill the vision and mission of God in our own lives! It is learning how to abide IN Christ daily and understanding that He is constantly abiding IN us no matter how we act out in our flesh! It is in reminding ourselves of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives and allowing Him to teach us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Abiding IN Christ is the activity of remaining in a continuous union with Christ! It is in this continuous union that empowers us to submit ourselves to His will, which opens up our understanding of His vision and mission for our lives! When we come to understand His vision and mission in our lives then when we pray we are aligned with Him and we have an assurance that what we pray, He will perform; because it is no longer praying my will be done on earth as it is in heaven; it becomes thy will be done on the earth as it is in heaven! And God always answers that prayer because that is His will for our lives!

It is clear by the structure of the verses in John 15:5-8 that it is possible to make the choice not to abide IN Christ and not to have His words abide IN us. We have been appointed to the position of a chosen disciple IN Christ, but with that appointment comes the responsibility to continuously abide IN Him and allow His Word to abide IN us, so we know how to execute His vision and mission on earth! As we unfold the deeper meaning of being a fruit bearing disciple, I want to encourage you to spend time praising God for always abiding IN you and for appointing you as a chosen disciple IN Him! If like Peter you have sinned against God in any area of your life, remind yourself that your fleshly actions do NOT disqualify you from being IN God’s company (body) or from His purpose for your life, in building His church through you! Remind yourself like Peter did that the gates of Hades CANNOT prevail against God or His plan for your life and make the decision to fulfill His purpose by choosing to abide IN Him and IN His Word daily!

Prayer: I praise You for choosing me to be a fruit bearing disciple and I believe by faith that as I choose to abide IN You and allow Your Word to abide IN me, I will see that fruit begin to manifest on a daily basis! I praise You for always abiding IN me even when I sin against You and for never disqualifying me to fulfill the position You have appointed me to, just because I act out in my flesh. Help me to come to a deeper understanding of Your vision and mission for Your church so that I will understand the position that I have been chosen to fill in order accomplish it. Amen

I Can Only Be A Fruit Bearing Disciple IN Christ! (Part One of Seven) The IN Christ Finale!

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. John 15:5-8 NKJ

Have you ever applied for a position in a company and anticipated being the chosen candidate out of all the applicants? When the call came that informed you that you had been selected to fill the position what emotions flooded your heart? On the job did you do all you could to successfully accomplish the assignment given to you on the day of your hiring? What did it feel like when you completed the assignment and were given a paycheck for your labor? And what kept that fire burning in your heart to keep you going back day after day to do what you had been hired on to do?

Now for a similar line of questions in regards to what it means to be a fruit bearing disciple. When you accepted Christ as your Savior did you realize you had been chosen and appointed to the position of a kingdom disciple? (“You did not choose Me, but I chose you”) Did you realize that the One who chose you, gave you an assignment on the day you accepted your position in the kingdom? (“and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit,”)

Did you realize that His desire was for you to have a passion in your heart to show up each day to fulfill your assignment? (“and that your fruit should remain,) And did you realize that there is a reward for your labor? (“that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”) (John 15:16) And did you realize it is in accomplishing that assignment God is glorified? (By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”) (John 15:8)

Sometimes I think we put more value on the positions we hold in earthly companies than we do in the position we have been assigned as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Think about it for a minute. If you have a job how many days do you get out of bed and say you don’t have the time or energy to go to work so you decide to skip it? How many times have you ever gone into the office and told your boss you think their plan is okay but you have decided there is a better way and you are going to go with that plan instead? Would you ever expect to receive a paycheck if you willfully chose not to fulfill the assignment you had been given?

The answer to all of these questions is no, and yet that is exactly how many people treat their position as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Many vines (disciples) in the body of Christ are not bearing fruit because they are not showing up each day to fulfill their assignment. Some have devised their own plan for their life and are executing it without regarding the plan God has set in place for them. And many disciples report that they are not seeing kingdom rewards manifest in their daily lives. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) If each New Covenant believer wrapped their minds around the great honor and prestige that comes with the title of being a chosen disciple of Jesus Christ, we would see an incredible change take place in the church of Jesus Christ!

Do you realize the greatest honor a person can ever have on earth is to be a chosen disciple of Jesus Christ? There is no greater honor on earth! It is the highest position in the earthly realm. It is more prestigious than being appointed as the president of the United States. It is more prestigious than being Donald Trump’s chosen apprentice. It is more prestigious than being appointed as the president and CEO of Harpo Productions by Oprah Winfrey herself. And the rewards of being a disciple of Jesus Christ are far greater than any reward that comes with these positions. And yet we do not place the same value on our position of being a chosen and appointed disciple of Jesus Christ as we do on these positions.

For the next seven days I want us to really begin to embrace our appointed positions as disciples of Jesus Christ so we can begin to comprehend what Jesus meant when He said, “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” And “that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” In order to begin this journey of understanding we must get an image of how an earthly company operates and that is what we will look at in tomorrow’s devotion. Those of us who are willing to expand our concept of God will see fruit begin to manifest on the vine of our Christian lives. Fruit that will last! Every successful company has a vision and mission statement that is given to its employees at the time of their hiring so they know what the company stands for and what they want to accomplish. Before reading tomorrow’s devotion spend time writing out what you believe would be God’s vision and mission statements for His company (body).

Prayer: Lord I have a desire to understand the position you have appointed me to as Your disciple. I believe by faith that it is the highest position of honor a person can have on earth and I believe by faith that there are rewards for the person who faithfully fulfills the assignment of this position. Open the eyes of my understanding so I can see an even greater image of You and comprehend what Your desire is for Your kingdom on earth and for my life as Your disciple. Amen