Romans 10:8-10 – “But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

We live in troubled and confusing times.    Even Christians are confused, perplexed, bewildered, and uncertain.  There are so many words claiming to be from God, but they do not satisfy the questioning heart and mind.    

The condition of our world has created a famine—not of food or water but of spiritual drought and famine.    The Word is there—it always has been and always will be.  The problem is the multiple confusing and conflicting voices claiming to be the Word from God.    Spiritual hearing has diminished to a famine state.

Hearing God for ourselves is often absent, and people clamor to get a Word and sometimes open their undiscerning hearts to heresy.   It sounds good.   It is what they want to hear, but they forget or never know the revelation of Romans 10:8-10.    The answer is near each of us.  It is as near as God Himself.   It is in our mouths and our hearts. 

A characteristic of the Last Days is confused and deceived minds.   One Word from God can change everything.   God is the Living and Speaking God.   That is revealed from Genesis to Revelation.

Not unrelated was the Word Jesus gave Peter before the crucifixion.   There would be three denials before the rooster crowed.  When it happened, Jesus turned and looked at Peter.  At that moment, Peter remembered, and after that, Peter was restored and empowered never to waver again.  One Word changed His life.  He also learned to hear God internally, so he never had a famine of hearing of the Word again.

Sometimes, God’s warning and our failure become the catalyst to developing a hearing ear.  A hearing ear eliminates a famine of hearing the Word.  Obedience leads to blessing, and obedience is the pathway to hearing effectively.

Imagine Peter as Jesus looked at Him with a broken heart.  He had warned Peter then and in the Garden.  Pray because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  One Word can lift us from weak flesh control to overcoming spiritual confidence.   When we know that, we know that we know Nothing can shake us.

Today is Victory Day.  Rejoice.  

Nahum 1:7 –  “The LORD is good, a great help in the day of trouble; AND He knows those who trust Him.”

As I read this passage, my heart was immediately gripped by a good theme: God is Good!   In our Western mentality, that is incredibly weak.  Good in the context of God is nothing like our usual understanding of good.  We have good food, good visits, good times, etc.   But when we focus on God, His goodness embraces and embodies all He is.   He is the ultimate GOOD!

That Good God (not an epithet) but a recognition of His fullness and love helps us.   We all face trouble.  We are all under satanic attacks.  We call face difficulty.  The Living Good God is our Great Help in our day of trouble.

“AND”  That is an important connector.   “AND” that Good God who helps us in trouble Knows those who Trust Him.   “Knows” is a term of intimacy or deep relationship and fellowship.   He knows (penetrates our hearts) with His person.   That is transformational and revelatory.

Habakkuk 2:14 reminds us that the day will come for the seekers of God who Trust Him when the earth will be filled with the Knowledge of The Glory of the LORD.   It is not knowledge of who God is but awareness of His Glory. 

Why is that important?  It reveals that there is a level of spiritual growth and fellowship where we understand God’s Glory and become manifestations of it.   We become Kingdom Kids.  We live in a state of consciousness of God’s Goodness, Grace, Power, and Purpose.   We live fearless lives manifesting Radical Normal Christianity.   We bring the Kingdom into our present and impact everyone and everything around us.

Remember that the devil is not in charge.  You are!  Jesus said you are!  Therefore, Why Not Now?   Why live beneath our designated position in Him?  Why not enforce Calvary’s Victory Today?   It is Who You Are!

Have a wonderful day basking in the sunlight of God’s love!

John 13:34 – “ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. “

Sometimes, I am captivated by a visual as I read scripture.   Today, as I read, prayed, and considered the Word, Jesus’ words gripped my heart.   That is not unusual, but what gripped me today?   John 13:34 would not let me go!

If I hear the word “new,” I expect something not known before.   But, to love one another is not new.   That is part of the Ten Commandments.   What made this a “New Commandment?”    Let’s read on – “JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU…”  [Emphasis mine]  That is totally different.   Loving our neighbors, even as we love ourselves, is incomplete and may not be unconditional.  

However, the “Just As” changes that.   Jesus also said, “If you love Me, you will keep my commandments.”   He did not say “maybe.”   He said, “You Will.”    He connected love to obedience and answered prayers.   We need to guard against making it something earned.   Earning it is not an expression of recognition of Unconditional Love; it is rooted in selfishness.   

Jesus repeatedly said “if” you Love Me.  “If” you keep my commandments.  “If,” in that state, you ask Anything, you receive it.  “If” we are not receiving, we might want to check the Love Factor of our hearts.

We cannot love unconditionally until we know and receive His Unconditional Love.   Receiving Everything we ask for would destroy us if our hearts were not Totally Pure!

That which flows out of us is that which is in us. 

• If we love God with our whole hearts, then we can love people with His Heart. 
• If we love Just as Jesus loves, we love selflessly, unselfishly, and unconditionally.  

In that state of heart and mind, we are united with God and fertile ground for answered prayer.   We become those who, through love, live with no sense of lack or defeat.   We are no longer offendable and totally free of hate.   We become manifestations of Jesus.  The heavens open to us.  We live victoriously.   We know that our prayers are answered, and Nothing can stop us.  It is in the Just As…

Lord, make us “Just As” people, please.

Have a great Just As Day in Jesus!

Acts 19: 12-16 – “From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.  He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” ¹⁶ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.“

Several things captured my heart and filled my thoughts as I mused on the closing chapters of the Gospel of John.   The Jewish hierarchy brought Jesus to Pilate for condemnation.   Pilate chastised them for bringing an innocent man to him.   Their jealousy and desire to protect their religious structure drove them to this action.

In John 19:15, Pilate asked, “Shall I crucify your king?”  It was another opportunity to acknowledge Jesus, but they responded out of their true hearts – “We have no king but Caesar.”   Wow!   Sadly, many are there today.   They have made man’s government and mammon their King and their God.    

When Pilate prepared the plaque identifying Jesus as the King of the Jews, those religionists protested. Pilate’s response is a reality of life: “What I have written, I have written.” The only time we can alter our story is while we are alive.   Our final chapter will end badly if we have no King but Caesar.   Many are trying to have Caesar as King and claim inheritance and family membership in the kingdom of God.

Malachi 2:17 speaks to that.  “You have wearied Me (God) with your words…”  That is an attention-getter.   How did they weary God?  “In that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in such; OR, where is the God who judges righteousness judgments?”

Attributing to God the cause of evil and twisting His Word reveals a corrupt heart and blinded mind.  But, if one has no King but Caesar, this is the norm.

God has set before us life and death, blessing and curse.  He has opened the door, and we are writing our own book.  What we write will stay with us eternally.  The Holy Spirit wants to edit our book.

It is needful that we take a stand for God and against evil.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed, so Now is the Time!   God’s desire is fellowship and blessing for you.  Your choice determines what He does for you, in and through you.  What you write, you write. 

Take your tablet and write Victory!  That is your heritage! 

Have a Great Day enjoying the complete victory Jesus has provided! 

Acts 1:8 – “ But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”  KJV

As I completed another trip through the Bible this year, I decided to reuse an old Bible with a wealth of notes in the margins for my next trip.   It was moving to read the Word of God and review what I had seen in the past.

The Book of Acts offers a powerful history and pattern to embrace.   Acts 1:8 brings us words in red—words that are direct quotes of Jesus.   He said they would be witnesses after or when they received the Holy Spirit. God’s choice of words is always purposeful. 

He did not say they would witness but would “be” witnesses.  Everything about them would testify of Christ and faith in Him.  This is being, not just doing!  The Holy Spirit gives the power and anointing to BE!  That anointing helps us navigate the will of God rightly.

An example of this is in this chapter and the next.   It is a visible contrast.   Peter, impetuous Peter, declared that they had to select someone to replace Judas.   Someone was to replace him. My question is, was it their responsibility to elect a replacement?  They were not elected; they had been selected by God, and now they are holding an election to determine God’s will.

They chose two men, prayed, asked God to pick from their picks, and called that His will.   Was it?   Possibly, but could it be that Paul was God’s pick, and He would have appointed him in His timing?  My thought is that without the anointing, we may make decisions attempting to get God to pick our pick.  However, with the anointing, we wait for God to give us His choice.

Acts 2 is a totally different scene.  It reminded me of an event some years ago as I led a congregation. I had exhausted all efforts to reach a man and failed each time.   One Sunday, I was preaching, and suddenly, I began to speak in an unknown tongue for several minutes.   Then, I finished my message in English.  It was an unusual occurrence!

A few days later, the man’s wife told me what had happened. Her husband asked, “Where did your pastor learn Swedish?”  She assured him that I did not speak Swedish. He said, “Yes, he does. ” Sunday, he spoke to me in fluent Swedish and told me things no one could know.”  A couple of weeks later, he was in the hospital, and I visited him.  He related that event, and in the course of our conversation, the man accepted the Lord. 

My human efforts had failed, but with the anointing, I became a witness that produced God’s desired results.   I have, at times, acted out of my knowledge, emotions, and preferences and failed.  I have tried to convince myself and others that our plan, like replacing Judas, was the right way.   It birthed an Ishmael or a Mathias who was obscure.  But the anointing produces an Acts 2 result.

We should seek God and refuse to act without His anointing.   Jesus ONLY did what He saw and ONLY said what He heard through the anointing.     We have the anointing if we have the Holy Spirit, and we “are” manifestations of Him.  I encourage you to begin exercising your spiritual authority today.  It is your heritage!

Have a Great Day, and may the Holy Spirit guard and guide your footsteps!