Hebrews 2:14-15 – “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Death is not in the Christian’s future. It is in our past.   The Bible informs us that, as believers, we have passed from death to life.  If that is true, and it is, then we have moved from death (past tense) to life (present tense). Death was, it will not be. 

Let me challenge you with a new thought.  A Christian does not die; they change addresses.  That gives a new twist to “its appointment unto men once to die…”  If we have already died, we won’t die again.  For the lost, that’s a different story, but for the Christian death, it is past tense. 

Since we can’t die again, why fear death?  We will experience the body stop working, but that is not death. It is a transition.  However, multitudes live with trepidation of the time when our bodies stop working.

We would comprehend eternity if we understood time as a helix (circular) but always moving up a notch rather than linear. Eternity has no beginning because God has no beginning.   If we are IN Him, we have no end.

We live focused on how much time we have left.  How much?  We have Eternity!  Not on earth, but as a Christian, you live eternally.  My point is that since you will not die, why not begin to live?  Whatever is in your heart is not contingent upon time.  So, you have already died, so stop focusing on the end because it is not the end.

Age is a moot point and important only to the carnal mind.  If we see the Cross and realize we have already died and now we are living our eternal life in this location, we stop categorizing by chronology.

That’s why the patriarchs did exploits late in their chronology.   They saw something we do not.   Job said, “In my flesh, I will see God.”  So, my dead but alive friends stop thinking linearly and start thinking circularly.  Think of your life as a helix and that you move one thread on the bolt higher every year.  From glory to glory.  

What I’m saying inadequately is that you have died and now live, and in that life, you are As He Is.  One day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  Time or chronology is meaningless to God.  You are living but dead, so don’t be dead while living on this earth.   You are part of the eternal realm NOW!  That is why we can bind and loose from heaven to earth. 

I will conclude with encouragement because what is in my heart and mind would take a book to explore fully, and then it would be incomplete.   I encourage you to begin living with an understanding that you are seated with Jesus in heavenly places.  You died and now live never to die again. 

May the Lord help us to change our view to match His Truth, which is your truth!

Psalm 84:10-12 – “For better is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.  I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. ¹¹ For Yahweh God is a sun and shield; Yahweh gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold ^[h]from those who walk blamelessly. ¹² O Yahweh of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

It is God’s purpose to transform us.  The desire of God is the uniting of our hearts to His.  He desires to live in us and through us.  In our singleness of heart, we can Do what Jesus did and the greater works.   Most people quote that with no thought, hope, or expectation.   It is theory and a place they will reach in heaven.  NO, IT ISN’T.  We will not do those works in heaven. The works are for Earth!

Psalm 84:10-12 is incredible.   If we read it not as a concept but as an attainable reality, it stirs something in us. The indispensable value of God’s presence is revealed.  Nothing the world offers compares to God’s presence.

God is both our sun and shield.  He is light or revelation (understanding) as well as protection.  Capture that thought in your mind; the Creator is protecting us.  Who would know better how to protect us and what we need protection from?

He gives grace and glory (favor).  He does not withhold any good thing from the faithful.   He is with us in all we encounter.   He takes all the things we encounter and uses them to transform us.  If we trust (demonstrated by our lives, not just our words), we are blessed. I encourage you to think about what being Blessed by God means and entails.

Psalm 86:11-12 – “Teach me Your way (singular).”   The Psalmist is saying the result of that revelation will be that I Will Walk in Your Truth.   Truth is in God’s way.

A word that arrested my heart was “Unite.”   The prayer was to unite my heart to fear (reverence) Your Name.  The word unite is (yachad) = make one.  Make singular?  Remember that thought in the New Testament?  Double mindedness!  The divided heart does not have God’s presence, walk in His power, or enjoy the promises in their fullness.

A united heart values the presence of God and knows that it is in that presence that transformation takes place.  The transformed will see the harvest, bind the strong man, and enforce the victory of Calvary. We must stop being theoretical and abstract in our faith.   We must realize, value, and pursue His presence.  

My prayer is, “Lord, open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our minds to comprehend.  Transform us and give us a Yachad (united, singular) heart.   Help us no longer straddle the fence, doubt, and live theoretically.  From this day forward, help us to live Your reality as enforcers of victory.   Help us to speak and walk with authority.  Make us victorious!  Amen!”

It would behoove us to remember that no ability is developed without training, practice, and application.   Step out and do not fear failure.   Your struggles are God’s fertilizer to make the fruit of your life grow.  Become what you are!  It is your time!

God bless you as you embark on your new spiritual journey into His fullness.

Lamentations 3:22-24- “The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.”

In Lamentations 3:22-24, read words that make my heart leap for joy as I am reminded that God’s love and mercy NEVER ends!   The compassion of God is without measure.  His love, mercy, and compassion are new every morning because He is faithful, and He is our portion.  We see the prophet’s broken heart in Lamentations 3:49 –“My eyes pour down unceasingly without stopping.”  Then he set a time on it – “Until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees.”  The idea was that if God sees, He will.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 contains an indispensable catalyst for right thinking, producing right living.

“…For ALL THINGS belong to you.” (v.21). He repeated it at the end of v.22. In v.23 -, “and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

We worry and fret over stuff.  We see our troubles, needs, lacks, powerlessness, and inadequacy, but we are reminded in this passage that Everything Belongs to Us! 

With every Promise, there is a Problem:

The problem is that we do not always believe it.  We believe it theoretically, but it is not who we are.   It is true that we profess because it is in the Bible, but we do not see it as ours experientially.  We do not see ourselves as worthy or spiritual enough.  Satan steals our hope and faith, and we relegate that truth to the super saints or to be enjoyed in eternity rather than now.

If it is true, that All Things belong to us because we belong to Christ and He belongs to God – Why Do We Struggle with The Promise?

It is vitally necessary that we have our minds reprogrammed.  The only way to do that is to guard our lips. Protect our eyes and ears (what we watch & listen to).  Be careful how and what you allow to come into your consciousness.

We have to change how we talk.  We must train ourselves to say what God says, not what we see or hear from the devil, others, or circumstances.   Say what God says.  We agree with God.  The reality is that whatever we agree with, we give power to.

The Bible says that Abraham believed in hope!  Not that he believed in the activity of hope, but that he believed with hope!  He hoped in what he believed.  It was hopeless & and impossible, But God Said, and he chose to agree with God.

Let me challenge you today to decide that no more defeatist words or thoughts will come out of your mouth!  Determine that if God said it, no matter what you see, you will agree with God even to death.  Nothing will shake you from your confidence in Him.

This is a new day of victory; rejoice!  May the Lord richly bless you today!

Malachi 1:6 – “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?’ says Yahweh of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?”

In Malachi, God states a fact, “A son honors his father, and a salve his master. Then He came to the point.  He took their own words and challenged them.  He still does today!  “IF,” as you declare, I am your father, where is the honor you should be giving me?  He was not looking for words but the commitment of heart and obedience.   Words have power but can be empty if the heart is not in the words.  They continually said the words but kept back their hearts.

Next, He said, “You call me Lord (master); IF I am, then why don’t you have fear and respect for Me?”  They were dumbfounded.   After all, they attended church and said all the right things, wasn’t that what was required?

There was defiled food on the altar. What is that?  It was giving God the second best and leftovers.  Spare Change (money and heart).  Tipping living.  They were allowing the profane to thrive and not shutting it out.  Feasting at tables, they should be overturned.   God accepts no offering that is not pure (whole-heart commitment).

Malachi 2:17 – “You have wearied Me with your words.”  His statement is penetrating, “You say evil is good, and everybody and everything is okay.”  Calling evil good and good evil incurs God’s disfavor, not blessing.

Malachi 3 speaks of the tithe, but it is more than just the ten percent tithe. It is about obedience, commitment, love, faith, and revelation.   God invites us to put Him to the test and prove to ourselves and the world His faithfulness.

Obedience in faith produces an open heaven.

The blessings promised are “until it is Beyond Enough.”  Beyond enough indicates abundance and even lavishness.  But God goes beyond that and promises that the devourer will be rebuked and restrained.   That is a promise of protection from corruption.   That means we have pure offerings that invoke more blessings and greater protection.   It becomes a perpetual cycle.  For His Glory.

Money is not the object.  God is!  Fulfilling the purposes of God is.  The harvest is.  Functioning in power is.

Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith through the personal prophecies he had received.  He later spoke of imparted gifts through the laying on of hands and prophecy.

We have a commission, and Malachi reveals a pathway to God’s person, provision, and power.  Timothy reveals how to function in that.

God is saying to us, “Give Me Your Whole Self.”  Give Me all you are and have, and I will give you Myself, all that I am and have.  I will open heaven, and NOTHING will be impossible or withheld from you. 

Our Part is Obedience and Faith.   We must train ourselves to expect My promises to become a reality NOW!  GOD will not receive superficial offerings but will bless and multiply pure-hearted offerings.  We must learn to Speak to our problems, the Word of God.  Give God your best, and He will do the rest.

May God richly bless you today and every day!

Job 33:14-16 – “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one perceives it. ¹⁵ In a dream, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, ¹⁶ Then He opens the ears of men, And seals in their discipline.”

Elihu, the fourth man who had come to Job, was chastising Job.  In his critique in Job 33:14-16, something interesting leaped off the page and captured my thoughts.

He spoke of a way God communicates with people.  God communicates in a dream and a night vision.  (Not the same). While we sleep, God speaks to our unencumbered spirits where there are no distractions.   There, in sleep, God opens our ears and seals our discipline.  

Job 34:3-4 – “For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.  Let us choose for ourselves what is just; Let us know among ourselves what is good.”

The question is, what words do we test?  We consciously test people’s words but also God’s.  How do we know what is just and good?  God’s Words!  We fail to hear God’s words in dreams and night visions because we lack understanding and expectation.

Often, people think it is unusual to have dreams and visions, so they do not expect them.   However, since God always speaks, what better time to communicate than when our minds and spirits are not distracted?

If we go to bed expecting God to communicate, He will.  It may take time to recognize and respond. Sometimes, we are unaware that He has communicated, but the answer or wisdom emerges as we encounter various situations.  Where did it come from?  God.  God communicated to our sleeping minds. 

I suggest that every night, each one commits their heart and mind to hearing and seeing what God is communicating.   It will change your life.  We must hear God clearly and regularly.   This is yours from Him. Receive it. Expect it.  Utilize it.

Wisdom is available for everything.  James 1:5, why not ask for it? 

May the Lord bless you richly as you pursue Him and His purposes in this life!

Revelation 4:1 – “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven…”

While there are many paths I could take with this text, I only want to pursue one: “Heaven’s Open Door.”  A few years ago, as we were traveling, my wife and I were listening to some old Gospel Music, and “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before” made its way into the rotation of songs, and this scripture came to mind. 

That song says, “I can see the Father standing at the door.”  That reminded me of the parable of the Prodigal Son and how the father saw the returning wayward son at a great distance and ran to meet him.  That suggests that he was always “looking” for the return of his wayward child and possibly standing in the doorway of his house looking over the way, hoping that his son, that which was lost, would return. 

I can imagine our Heavenly Father looking over His creation at the doorway of Heaven and longing for us to “return to Him with a whole heart.”  At times, I can almost hear the sobs of the Father and my Lord Jesus as they weep over the condition of mankind in this day that we live.

When I think of a “Door Open in Heaven,” several things come to mind.  That tells me there is “open access” to God’s throne through prayer and how we must take advantage of that invitation and opportunity.  It suggests that God eagerly awaits us to petition Him and is willing to dispatch help to us at a moment’s notice.

The picture that comes to my heart and mind is that of a loving parent watching over their children and ready to protect and nurture them if there is a need and willingness to let them spread their wings to learn to fly.  I sense that there is a “Door Open in Heaven,” and God is extending a personal invitation for us to “enter in” through the vehicle of prayer and commune with Him and receive from Him His supply.

Whatever you do as you go through this day, hold in your heart and mind that there is an “Open Door in Heaven” for you right now!  

I pray that God will be with you and bless you richly today and every day!

Romans 8:10-12 – “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh…” 

We are, in a biblical sense, the “Living Dead.”  I am not talking about Zombies, even though Hollywood seems obsessed with them.    When I say the “Living Dead,” I am talking about people who have “died to sin” and “risen to life” in Jesus Christ through the Power of the Blood.  It is a beautiful place to be – the Living Dead!

Paul informs the Roman believers that “IF” the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, that same Spirit will give us Life in our mortal bodies.  We are then Dead but Alive, and that is because we are not controlled by the “flesh” but the “spirit.”  As a result, we are no longer under the Obligation to Live According to the Flesh. 

That leads me to more questions – “Why do we?  Why do we allow the Flesh to have so much power daily?  Why do we allow the Flesh to be such a dominant force in our lives?  WHY?  There can only be one of a few possibilities.

• We are uninformed as to our position and condition in Christ.
• We are willing participants with the Flesh.
• We are so underdeveloped spiritually that the devil easily sways and overcomes us.

None of those are conditions that are required or that we are obligated to.  When Jesus came, lived a sinless life, died sacrificially on the Cross, rose on the third day, and ascended to the Right Hand of the Father – the devil was defeated.  That is not a maybe or someday; somehow, when we all get to heaven, he will be – he is defeated now! 

Jesus said that All Power, All Authority in heaven was given to Him, and He has given that to us.  Therefore, we have authority and power over the devil, meaning that the Flesh is to be subject to the Spirit of God, not vice versa. We are under No Obligation to succumb to the temptations or whims of the flesh.  We are More than Conquerors through Jesus; We can do all things through Christ!  That is our Covenant, Heritage, and Promise from the Lord Himself, so why not employ it and enjoy it?

Therefore, as you go through this day, go in the strength of the Power of the Spirit of God and walk in Victory!  God bless you richly, is my prayer!

2 Timothy 2:1, 11-13 – “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus…11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; 12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

How about you?  Do you want to be “Strong in Grace?”  I believe I can answer that for you without violating your right to decide for yourself and say Absolutely!  In verses 11-13, some truths regarding our walk in Christ in this life by saying:

1. If we have died in Him, we will live in Him.
2. If we endure, we will reign.
3. If we deny Him, He will deny us.
4. If we are faithless, He will remain faithful.
5. God cannot deny Himself.

We are dead in Christ through the experience of the “new birth.”   We have been made new creations through the gift of Salvation and one day, we will live with Him eternally.  Jesus never hid the fact that we would face difficulties in life and the Christian walk, nor does Paul.  He tells us that the end of that enduring is reigning with Jesus.  He warns that if we deny the Lord, God will deny us on that day, which is not something that we desire.  He tells us that we may be less than faithful, but God will always be faithful because He cannot deny Himself, and He is faithful.

Therefore, to be “Strong in Grace” is to embrace the faith that is in Jesus Himself.  It is to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our thoughts, words, and deeds. It is to allow the Holy Spirit to shed the Love of God abroad in our hearts and to teach us all things that Jesus said.  It is to allow the Holy Spirit to quicken our mortal bodies so that we shake off the shackles of carnality and move into the realm of the spiritual.  It is to become focused on the King and the Kingdom of God as paramount and supreme above all else.  It is to Surrender our lives totally to God!

In that condition and position, we become “Strong in Grace,” no matter what comes, we come out the other side In Christ and, therefore, Victorious!

May God be with you as you go through your day!

Daniel 3:16-25 – “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”  19 Saved in Fiery Trial Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”  25 Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”  NKJV

What a beautiful beginning to a new day.  I am sitting with my morning coffee, bible, and the presence of the Lord, reading and listening.  In the stillness, I heard, “There is a Fourth Man in the Fire!  Do you see Him!”

The Book of Daniel is a fascinating book to me.  I love watching the hand of God upon lives that are wholly committed to Him and seeing His delivering hand.  A truth that, too frequently, we forget and allow ourselves to fret, fuss, and fume over various situations and circumstances. 

The Hebrews taken captive to Babylon had, among them, four very distinctive personalities.  Daniel, whom they named Belteshazzar, but we always find him called Daniel.  Hananiah, the Babylonians renamed Shadrach, Mishael to Meshack, and Azariah to Abed-Nego, names we find them referred to in the book henceforth.  These four young men made some early decisions regarding their commitment to the Almighty God whom they served.

• They refused to eat the king’s meat or drink the king’s drink.  Oh, how we need to understand that we must “come out from among them and be separate.”  They did not try to make themselves noticeable to everyone around them in their difference; they just maintained their commitment to God and allowed the result to speak for itself.  Their commitment elevated them to prominent positions in the kingdom of Babylon, yet they maintained their integrity and commitment to God.

• They refused to bow before the king’s idol even though, in the natural, it meant sure death.  They responded to the king by saying, King, we do not need to try to justify our actions to you; we trust the God we serve, and He will deliver us; if not, no big deal.  We must never forget that this life here is just a sojourning; we are passing through as “strangers and pilgrims on this earth.”  This is a temporary home, not our permanent one.  Go therefore, keeping the focus on the “goal, the prize of the high calling” is more important than being politically correct or fitting in with the world.

• They were delivered by THE FOURTH MAN IN THE FIRE, whom Nebuchadnezzar declared looked like “the Son of God.”  Even the Babylonian king could not deny the truth of God nor His great power because of the commitment of these young men.

It does not matter what we face!  It does not matter what obstacles are laid in our path!  It does not matter what opposition comes our way!  It does not matter what danger our lives might be placed in – – THERE IS A FOURTH MAN IN THE FIRE! 

If we “seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness,” our eyes upon Him and our commitment firmly rooted in His Word and refuse, as the three Hebrew Children, to Bend, Break, or Bow, we will walk out of the fire either in this life or in the next unscathed and into His presence!  They may be able to kill our bodies, but they cannot kill our souls. Therefore, we need not fear them, whoever they might be!

I urge you to begin your day today with the confidence that if today leads you to the fiery furnace, the FOURTH MAN IN THE FIRE will be awaiting you there to cover you with His feathers, and under His wings, you can trust, rest, and be protected.  We will either receive deliverance or promotion, and both are victories!

I pray for the rich and bountiful blessing to be upon each of you as you go through your day!