Matthew 21:21-22 – “Jesus replied, “Listen to the truth. If you do not doubt God’s power and speak out of faith’s fullness, you can also speak to a tree and it will wither away. Even more than that, you could say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and be thrown into the sea’ and it will be done. ²² Everything you pray for with the fullness of faith you will receive!”

As I read in Matthew from chapters 17-21, several things kept repeating themselves—healing, deliverance, authority, and faith.

We make faith mysterious and intentionally or unintentionally, consciously, or subconsciously blame God when we do not receive the desired answer.

It is NEVER God’s fault.  That is absolute.  We seek justification for why we did not receive it.  We say, “God knows best!”  Yes, He does, but He never contradicts Himself.   Jesus died for our salvation, and it is never God’s will not to save.  Yet in healing, deliverance, provision, etc., we say it must not have been God’s will.   Chapter and verse, please!

Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Did He defeat the devil?  Absolutely!  Then, why would Jesus take the stripes and revoke the curse, which was death, sickness, disease, and poverty, but will not give us what Jesus died to achieve?  He said repeatedly, “If you believe in your heart, you receive what you ask.”

I’ve been seeking the key to understanding and not bringing condemnation to myself or others.  Understanding so I can pray effectively, live victoriously, and manifest Kingdom Life now.

That key is the heart.  Not the mind but the heart.   The mind filters what gets into the heart.  If we develop negative thinking and adopt thinking that justifies failure, the heart is not exposed to truth and expectation.

I’m not there yet, but I’m pressing in.  If God makes a declaration or issues a promise, I am determined to believe it, seek it, and not be distracted.  I will guard my thoughts and words to focus on the promise rather than what I see or feel.  Either I believe God and act like He is telling the truth, or I do not.  I’ve had miraculous healing, deliverance, guidance, and provision.  Sadly, those have not been the norm, but the unusual.

God can not lie. Therefore, if He says or promises anything, it is 100% reliable.   My cry is for me, you, and everyone to recalibrate our brains, restructure our words, and renew our anticipation in Him. 

It is Finished!  That means nothing more needs to be done for us to receive God’s promises now! Total Victory is available and attainable today!

Lord, let today manifest Your truth in our lives.

Psalm 37:25-26 – “I was young, and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread.  26 All day long, he is gracious and lends, and his seed is a blessing.”

In my devotional time this morning, I was reminded of a condition among people, even people of God, that hinders the Kingdom: having a bad short-term memory. A flawed short-term memory can be okay in some things, but not so much when it comes to God.

Israel repeatedly saw God’s mighty hand in Egypt and the wilderness.  Those miracles should have kept them in constant awe and faith, but they quickly forgot and made the moment their focus.   They saw and experienced God’s power and faithfulness but let selfishness control their thoughts, words, actions, and hearts.

Even the twelve demonstrated a flawed short-term memory.   Jesus fed the 5,000 miraculously. Just days later, the 4,000 and the disciples still thought naturally.   Then, almost immediately, they demonstrated a deficient short-term memory fretting because they only brought one loaf of bread.   Jesus reminded them of the 5,000 and 4,000.  Little is much when God is in it!   In God, supply is endless!   In God, ALL has been provided!

• Jesus said It is Finished, not almost finished.  
• Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. 

Did He Finish It?   If All is Finished, then He did.   We are not tasked with defeating the devil or destroying his works but enforcing the Victory of the Cross, taking the thief to court, and reclaiming what he has stolen.

If we believe Jesus saves us, why don’t we as readily believe His other promises and victories for us?  He has authorized and empowered us through the Word and by the Holy Spirit to enter the Kingdom, receive the Promises, and bring the Kingdom to Earth.  Why don’t we?  When will we?  If not now, when? 

We need to reject the loss of short-term memory that is rooted in what you have done for me lately and embrace His demonstrated faithfulness.   We must never fail to remember! I urge everyone to let what He has done propel us into a new dimension of faith and trust.  It is not what we see or feel that is important but what He says!  His Word Cannot and Will Not Fail.

I urge you to begin meditating upon the Person, Promises, Provisions, and Power of God.  Train yourself to only allow His Word to occupy your mind.  Refuse to walk by sight but rather by faith. What God says is the only true reality.

Today is your day of victory.

Matthew 6:21 – “Where your treasure is, there also is your heart.”

I pray that each of us will enjoy God’s perfect peace, precise guidance, and the anointing to break every yoke and pull down and destroy all strongholds of the mind. I pray for God’s power to be manifested in and through each one!

As I read this passage, I was impressed by the Holy Spirit’s urgings of the importance of having an undivided heart and a singleness of purpose, which is God’s purpose.

In Matthew 6:21, Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there also is your heart.”  What holds our hearts?  What is our focus?  Is our desire first Him and the kingdom, or does Anything else hold our hearts?

Dual service is not truly possible.   God is first, or something else is.  If anything becomes a greater focus than God, the Kingdom, and our purpose, it can become an idol, and even if it is good, it becomes a weight that hinders us.

One of the most horrific thoughts is that after life on earth has ended, would be to discover that I had lived with a divided heart.  Not hearing the words “Well done” would be eternally devastating. Instead, we would hear the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:23.   He said to those who had been in the church, ministering, preaching, and prophesying, “I have never known you.”  That would be beyond horrific!  

Yes, I believe! Yes, I have received His pardon, experienced the new birth, and been born again.   Not to get into a theological debate, but those who thought they were okay were involved in labor for the kingdom but had divided hearts did not enter in. God does not want any to perish but for all to have eternal life, but our choice is a part of the equation. John 3:16 is for whosoever will, that indicates choice.

The cry of my heart is to have God as the ultimate focus of my heart, mind, soul, and strength.   We must not get sidetracked by what we want if it hinders us from what His call is.  He gives the desire of the heart when the heart is undivided.  Jesus said that His food and focus were to do the will of the Father.

Matthew 10:38-39 are keys to victory and purpose.  “AND whoever does not take up his (personal) cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.  39 He who is concerned (focused on) about his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake shall find it.”  If we follow Matthew 6:33, we find that God FIRST creates a platform for life to the fullest.  

In Proverbs, there is an obscure directive – prepare your field, then build your house.  In capsule form (give your heart to the call and purpose of God, then focus on your desires). 

My heart cries for God’s purpose to be fulfilled in me without division or distraction.  What I want or perceive I need is secondary to God’s purpose.   I want the heart of Jesus. I want a heart that says, my food, sustenance, and joy is to do the will of God.  Having an undivided heart is what I am hearing.  God’s call is to Singleness of Purpose.!

Today is a day of victory for everyone who seeks God First. It is your day to rejoice and enjoy God’s goodness!

Numbers 20:9-13 – “So, Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, just as He had commanded him; ¹⁰ and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised high his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. ¹² But Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” ¹³ Those were the waters of Meribah because the sons of Israel contended with Yahweh, and He proved Himself holy among them.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered this morning, the importance of explicit obedience gripped my heart.  Explicit obedience in everything, large and small, is vital.

In Numbers 20:11-12, we have an example of allowing past experience and personal passion to become an act of disobedience.  Moses did not maliciously disobey, but he did, which cost him greatly.  God is not petty but holy, and explicit obedience is necessary to achieve the fullness of God’s purpose.   We tend to excuse ourselves, “I’m only human.  Nobody is perfect.”  God won’t accept that.

God told Moses to take his staff (a symbol of authority) and SPEAK to the rock (a type of Christ).  Moses drew from the past and, out of anger, hit the rock twice with his staff.  God didn’t let it go.  Moses had disobeyed and did so in the sight of the people.  God wanted them to understand that there was nothing magic in the ritual they had seen before but that the power to achieve God’s purpose was in explicit obedience.  

Disobedience demonstrates a lack of faith, disrespect for God, and a lack of total dependence on God.  It has consequences.

In Matthew, Joseph had a plan, but when God gave directions, he followed them explicitly, preserving Jesus and living the hope of salvation. The Magi had orders from the reigning monarch, but God gave orders that countermanded the king’s order, and they obeyed explicitly. Jesus was spared, and the hope of salvation lived.

The Scriptures tell us that the little foxes spoil the vine.   One act of disobedience may not make us a rebel, but it makes another act of disobedience easier to commit.  The cumulative effect is destruction.

You can drop a single BB in a boat with no effect.  But, if you continue dropping BBs into the boat somewhere along the way, one BB will sink the boat.   Cumulative. However, one act of explicit obedience can open the door to the kingdom and propel us on the pathway to TOTAL VICTORY!

Obedience is better than sacrifice, and hearkening (hearing and obeying) is better than the fat of rams.   We live by every Word that God speaks.  Jesus said, ” If you love Me, do what I say. “

My prayer today is:

“Lord, help us to be explicitly obedient. Not in tormenting fear that You will get is for failure but because we love and trust you completely.”   

Our Father desires to give us the kingdom, but He cannot and will not bless disobedience.

Today, as we seek to obey explicitly, the revelation of our path will be illuminated.  His Word is a light and lamp.  Trust Him and see what happens.   The flesh will resist, but there is power, provision, protection, and promise in explicit obedience.

Have a great day, and enjoy the presence of the Holy Spirit and the guidance He provides!

Numbers 11:23 – “The LORD’S hand is Full; now you shall see whether My Word shall come true to you or not.”

Today, something in the Book of Numbers caught my attention. It filled my consciousness as I read and prayed!

In Numbers 11, Israel continued to complain, voicing their dissatisfaction even after God performed miracle after miracle and provided for them time and again.   I have discovered that God’s people tend to complain if the going gets rough.   There is no Easy Button in life!   Sometimes, it’s hard.  Job told us that.   Jesus told us that.  The apostles told us that.   Yet, we want calm seas and smooth roads All the Time!

God promised meat for a month for the people- over 600,000 footmen, not counting the women, children, and elderly.  Moses could not comprehend how it would be possible and offered outlandish human suggestions.

The declaration of God in Numbers 11:23 is powerful.  What an encouragement, and what a paddling!   God did it!  They had the constant presence of God.  The miracles overcoming impossibilities.   Yet, the people continued to walk by sight, perception, and human ability.  

The spies God sent to detail the goodness of the land and provide a plan of possession did the same thing.   They saw the incredible fruitfulness of the land – it was all God had promised. But they saw opposition and wilted.  The goodness of the land did not convince them of God’s faithfulness and power.   They saw the Giants rather than God’s Enormity and Faithfulness!

The giants they saw blinded them.   Rather than take God at His Word and believe that His hands are full, they saw giants.   Their perception of the problem prevented them from pressing into the promise.  We are to walk by what?  By Faith, not by what?  Sight!    Yes, life has difficulty!     We can continue to see the Problem and talk ourselves out of the Promise by doing what we’ve always done.

God did not take it lightly and say, “They are only human.”  He stated, “Not one of you except Joshua and Caleb will get there.  They trusted you, disbelieved, and rebelled.”  We might want to rethink how we view life, problems, and promises and how we talk. If we focus on the problems and our past failures, we agree with the devil and empower him. If we see God’s Full Hand, we agree with God and walk by Faith. 

It is one or the other; there is no in-between.   The Promise is Victory now, and Heaven eternally! That door is open to us.  The question is, will we trust God’s Full Hand or the devil’s empty hand?  Can God Lie?  Does God Lie?  When has God Failed?  NEVER!

We need to believe His report, and victory is ours. Afterward, we may walk with a limp like Jacob, but you will be walking in overcoming Victory.   Choose Victory!

I pray that today will be a day of revelation and victory for you!