2 Corinthians 4:13 – “But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, ‘I believed; therefore I spoke,’ we also believe, therefore we also speak.“

What a day to be alive, enjoy God’s goodness, and discover the incredible things He has in store for us today!   Let’s begin the treasure hunt by looking inside our hearts and fully surrendering ourselves to Him!

This morning, the thought or question, “Do you believe God?”  filled my heart and mind.   It is a simple but complex question.  However, an addendum to that question needs to be asked: “What do you believe?”  Most of us would affirm that we believe God as in, we believe in God, believe about God, and believe that the Bible is the Word of God.   Yet, do our lives match what we declare?

I am not attempting to be accusatory and bring condemnation, but it is a genuine question I ask myself.    Does my life match what I believe I believe?   

• I declare that I believe in the fullness of Jesus’ victory on the Cross. 
• I declare that I believe in the full atonement of Christ.  I declare that I believe God can do all things and is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
• I declare that I am more than a conqueror through the Finished Work of Jesus.  Yet do I manifest that in my walk and words?

I want my life to mirror my declarations!   I want my life to be a manifestation of Jesus and the works He did, do, and achieve the level of greater works.    I want to pull down strongholds.  I want to see the sick healed, the dead raised, the lepers cleansed, the captive set free, the lost saved, and the enemy silenced.  I want to see signs and wonders accompany the Word of God when I declare it.

I see those things, but not with the consistency that God intends.  I am asking the LORD to transform me inside and out so that I will genuinely and consistently manifest Him in all things and at all times.   Is that utopian?  Possibly, but since Jesus was our example and did what He did as a man, then declared that He has given us authority and power to do what He did, I want it!

I want my life to be an example of confidence in God and obedience to God so that I will not only live in God’s world but also manifest the Kingdom of God, know His ways, and walk in total obedience to Him!  I want to be an encouragement to everyone I meet and a vessel that the LORD can use.  I want it to be said of me, as it was said of David – He fulfilled the purposes of God in his generation, and then he died.  Not until, but when!

I pray for each of us that we will know Him in the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, and be made conformable to His death.  I pray that each of us will represent and manifest Jesus in our sphere of influence.  I pray that we will believe Him and live the life He has provided fully!

Have a fantastic day in the victory of Jesus!

Job 24:13 –“They were in God’s world; BUT they knew not His ways; nor did they walk in His paths.”

Today, I read this passage in Job and realized it would demand more thought but spoke of a present condition.   It was Job 24:13.   Notice the words “In His world.”   Where else could they be on Earth?  This is His world, right?  But take that into the realm of the Spirit, and it cries out that they witnessed His majesty but ignored or rejected Him.   Submission is first before knowing His ways and the ability to walk in His paths.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul spoke about the veil covering the revelation of Who God is.   They read the Word but are in darkness.    How many go to church, pray, read the Bible, and declare they are Christians but Do Not Know God, His Ways, or His Paths?  They go through the motions without transformation.

• How we talk and think is revelatory about where we are spiritually.   

2 Cor 4:13 – “We have the same spirit of faith; for it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken; we also believe; therefore, we also speak.”

• What we truly believe is manifested in our words and deeds.

At the end of that chapter, he identifies the results of that level of belief and knowing (intimacy) with God.

There is a place in God where there is no weariness, even in the darkest hours of trial.   Life’s difficulties, disappointments, and loss are viewed as of little importance in light of what we will have eternally.   That is what we have now in the realm of spirit.

We are New Creations in Christ.  We call those things that are not as though they are.  We see the finished product, not just the process.   We believe; therefore, we say what God has said, believe what God says, and act upon that belief.

With those promises as our foundation and hope, we determine that Nothing will defile or defeat us.  We are living manifestations of God’s love, peace, purpose, and power. We are overcomers who know Him, see His path, and are transformed and inspired by His ways. We are living epistles that people can read and see God.

I encourage you to receive your heritage, believe your heritage, and live victoriously.  It is who you are, so be who you are!

Have a great day walking in the fullness of His Provisions!

Job 5:7 – “For man is born for trouble, as sure as the wild birds fly.”  George Lamsa Translation Aramaic to English)

As I read, prayed, and contemplated the Word and the voice of the Spirit in my heart, I was moved to consider things from Job and 1 Corinthians.

There are two views expressed in Job – “Fatalism and Optimism.”  Unfortunately, some Christians try to live an oxymoronic life of Optimistic Fatalism or Fatalistic Optimism.   Those two words are incompatible!

In Job 4 and 5, Eliphaz expressed a legalistic, fatalistic mindset.  In Job 4:5-8, we see that legalism is detailed prolifically.  Job 5:7 shows even more fatalism: “For man is born for trouble, as sure as the wild birds fly.”   Most translations render it as ‘sparks fly upward.’

Job recognized the finiteness of man with a hint of fatalism in Job 7:1, 6.  By the time we reach Job 13, we see Job’s hope rising.   In Job 13:15, he declares, “Though He slay me, yet will I look for Him; because my ways are before Him.”

I encourage everyone to consider the two things Job asked for in Job 13:20-28.   “Only two things do not let depart from me; then I will not turn aside from thee: ²¹ Do not withdraw thy help from me; and let not thy dread terrify me.”  

In Job 14:14, Job asked a relevant question, “If a man die, shall he live again.”  That was an expression of hope for the saved and a fatalistic question from the lost.  Paul addressed that question in 1 Corinthians 15 in his teaching about the resurrection.

Fatalism would prevail if what we have now is all there is.  That would place us in a hopeless mess.  If only what we see and experience in the now were all there is, what a hopeless mess we are in.  But that is not all there is, as 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 powerfully portrays.

The reality is that we will rise in a glorified body and never know corruption again eternally!    We must never lose sight of the fact that trouble comes to the just and unjust.  But we should consider it a mark of ownership and let it inspire hope.  This present time of trial cannot compare to the coming glory. 

So, if a person dies, will they live again?  The answer is an emphatic Yes if they are in Christ.  Yes, Yes, Yes!  Always look heavenward.  Always remember that we are not forgotten or forsaken no matter what comes.   Let us live in eager anticipation of the fruit of Christ in us.  Let us live with no sense of lack because the work of Christ is finished, and in that work, we are fully supplied.   There is no need that is unsupplied in Jesus!

Enjoy this day; it is a day of Victory in Jesus!

Luke 5:36-38 – “He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old garment.  If he does, he will have torn the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.  ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.  If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered today, a spirit of heaviness like a weighted blanket enveloped me.  Luke 5:36-38 poured into my mind. That is the account of old wineskins and new wine.  I remember a story I heard decades ago that opened my eyes and explained my heavy heart.

A young boy was sleeping in bed and suddenly fell out. His father heard the noise and ran to the room to check on him. The father asked what happened. The lad said, “I guess I stayed too near where I went into bed.”

The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about the American church: We live too near where we got into the kingdom. We have stayed too near the world and live with one hand on the world and the other on the kingdom. We have failed to die to ourselves. We have become comfortable in the system, routine, ritual, and idea of Christianity rather than dying to self.

We have embraced the old wineskin and become old wineskins.  If God were to pour out the new wine of revival, renewal, and restoration, it would destroy us. God’s fresh flow transforms. Transformation stretches our wineskins, and if we are old, rigid, stiff, and stuck in routine, ritual, and form, the new wine destroys us.

The Last Day Move of God cannot be poured out upon rigid, brittle old wineskins.  It stretches us beyond imagination. It requires us to be pliable and reshapable.  It requires us to empty out of self and be filled with Him. It requires us to make a 100% commitment to God.

Multitudes today are living too near where they got in.  They love the world in the sense that they seek and embrace the gratification of the flesh.   They go to church but have never become the church.  They pray for stuff rather than for Him.  They find time for pleasure but not intercession.  They labor for wages to purchase possessions, attain status, or pleasure rather than invest themselves into pursuing God’s purposes.

Jesus said that to follow Him, we had to die to self.   Are we dead to ourselves or just dead on the inside?  If we die to ourselves, we discover that we are continuously remade and provide God a container to house His outpouring.

Today’s call is, “Come out from among them and be separate.”   The call is to give our all to Jesus totally.   The call is to allow Him to live through us. He cannot and will not share His glory with the world.   He won’t fill us with what would destroy us!  He seeks pliable hearts to inhabit and manifest Himself through.

Are we staying too near where we got in?   Do we want God’s outpouring and infilling?  Then there is only one solution: die to self, release the world, and surrender fully to Jesus!  A move is happening all over the world.   The only question is, will we be a part of it?   What kind of wineskin is our Wineskin?  Make us new, Lord. Make us new!

May we all become newly made wineskins of the Holy Spirit and receive the New Wine of God for this Last Day’s Move!

Mark 6:47-48 – “As night fell, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on the land. The wind was against the disciples, and He could see that they were straining at the oars, trying to make headway.”

A reality gripped my consciousness as I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today.  It was a reminder that we all need to be reminded of frequently.

Something powerful unfolded in Mark’s account of feeding the 5,000 with two loaves and five small fish.   After the miracle, Jesus sent the disciples away to sail to the other side of the sea.   He sent them into life without His physical presence.   This was a teaching experience.  We must learn to function in His authority in life.

Mark 6:47-48 is a powerful reminder of the realities of life.   Life is filled with adversity.  When the winds of adversity come, there are two distinct possibilities for the followers of Jesus.   What was happening to them depicts us too frequently.   We strain at the oars, trying to make headway.  Human effort produces human results, which are always inadequate or deficient.

Jesus saw them!   He knew they were struggling!   He could have spoken to the storm and calmed the waters from the shore but didn’t. Why?  The storm was a classroom session.  They were missing a revelation that we must embrace to walk victorious.

Jesus came to them in their darkest hour, saying, “Don’t yield to fear. Have courage. It’s really Me – I AM!”   He got in the boat, and immediately, there was calm.  This left them awestruck!  Their natural thinking blocked the revelation that would have transported them through the storm.  Mark 6:52 reveals, “Their doubting hearts had not grasped His authority and power over all things in spite of just having witnessed the miraculous feeding.”

They saw it but saw it not as an example of the authority He gives the believer but as something He did.   

• We forget that He said the works He did and greater works we are to do.  
• We forget that He said ALL authority over the powers of darkness is ours through Him. 
• We forget that He said NOTHING is impossible to the one who believes!

Therefore, we strain at the oars with human natural effort and ability rather than with the tools He has given.  Victory is in Who He is, What He says, and Who we are in Him.  The victory is in believing Him!

What path will we take? Will we strain at the oars or roll it all onto Him? Will we try to do it, or will we be it through Him?   It is in what we see and perceive!  We are more than conquerors IN Him.  We are weak humans with inadequate ability without Him.   Which will we be?

Choices are ours; choices have benefits and consequences, so choose wisely.

Lord, help us to cease straining at the oars of life in our own strength and allow Him to be our strength!