“You’re thinking too small!” Thats what the Lord spoke to me as we drove home from church on Sunday. I asked for a point of reference and He directed me to look around me. So I took another look all around and again I heard, “You’re thinking too small!” So I asked that He open the eyes of my understanding and help me to see what he was trying to show me.

Suddenly I knew it wasn’t what I saw in the natural that he was referring to, it was what I saw in the Spirit realm. Isaiah 55:8-11 CEV says: “The Lord says:“My thoughts and my ways are not like yours. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, my thoughts and my ways are higher than yours. Rain and snow fall from the sky. But they don’t return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat. That’s how it is with my words. They don’t return to me without doing everything I send them to do.”

I need to think like God does and not allow the smallness of my natural view to stunt me from all God has for me. If I can’t see it in the spiritual realm, it will never manifest in the natural realm. I may not understand how it works, but it’s how God does things so I know it works. Like Elisha, I need to see the fiery angel chariots on the hills of deliverance rather than the natural enemies that surround me.

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. Matthew 21:21. It’s having faith in the God who is able, thinking like God, operating as He created us to.

Father, I trade my eye sight for yours. I trade my vantage point for yours. You are indeed higher and mightier than anything that I face in the natural. Everything I need is in your Word and I will focus on what is in your realm and not mine. I trade my words for your Words, for they are life and health to me. Others may not understand me, but I seek to please you by becoming more and more like you each day. You’ve called me to come up higher, to leave the world behind, so I come. Into your arms, I come. Into your Word, I come. Into your deep and everlasting love, I come. In your grace I will make my home. Make me more like you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

The word ‘all’ means everything. In this verse, if that word was absent, it wouldn’t have the same emphasis. Dictionary.com states; the whole of (used in referring to quantity, extent, or duration). So this verse isn’t just saying God will meet your current need, or He puts a limit on it, He will continue to limitlessly meet every single one of your needs, not in the confines of our accounting system, but according to His vast and limitless supply.

In other words, God has access to much more. If it’s not there, it’s not anywhere! Banks can only hold so much, but God, well just look up at the stars! He made all that and each one has a name. We’re not talking little tiny stars, each one is huge!

Whatever you have need of, God’s already provided. If you need a job, it’s already there. If you need money, it’s already there. If you need healing, it’s already there. NOTHING you need isn’t already there. God simply wants your time and attention. If you spend more time seeking Him, learning of Him, trusting in Him, you would discover that everything you have need of is found in Him.

Thank you Lord for that little 3 letter word that means so much. You are ALL I need. I pursue You today with ALL my heart, soul and mind. May I be ALL you need in the earth today. May I share Your love, joy, grace and mercy to ALL I come across. It’s in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen

Isaiah 55:8-9 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

I’ve always been a positive person, but even at my best, I don’t come close to how God thinks. The only way I can come close is to read his Word, speak his Word and believe his Word. I challenge you as my Pastors wife challenged me: Daily read the Word! Belly up to the table of the Lord and feast on his Word until you’re so full it spills over into your home, your job, your world.

Only the hungry will taste and be full. As you sit this morning in the presence of the Lord remember this; whats prepared in the kitchen causes hunger in those around you. You emit a fragrance that draws the world to Jesus. May that fragrance be sweet!

Father, as I climb into your lap this morning and lean on your ample breast, my heart is at peace, my mind is renewed. I ask for your thoughts to fill my mind today as I go about my business.  May your kind and loving words fill my mouth and allow me to touch the lives of those around me with hope. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

If you’re visiting here for the first time, I usually just put one scripture verse, possibly two for our morning read. But this morning, I felt impressed to share a few more so bear with me please, it will be worth it, trust me!

Joshua 1:1-9; After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

I’m of the mindset that if it’s in the Word, spoken by God, than I have access to the same promises. Just as God told Abraham that the covenant was to his seed, and even if we’re not directly in his line, we have access through the blood of Jesus. Galatians 3:29 says; And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So, now that we’ve established that, let’s take another look at our beginning text. God is commissioning Joshua, who has now taken over for Moses. He first shows him what belongs to him, then He shows he will always be victorious and that God himself will never leave him. But in verse 8, God shows him how to stay strong and courageous, by making the Word of God a priority. God is saying, “If you study my Word, eat it as the bread of life it is, get it inside of you so that when something happens it won’t affect you, then you will make your way prosperous and have good success.”

I see so many people working their butts off to provide for themselves and their families but they literally spend so little time in the Word, that their spirits are like a bunch of zombies, walking dead men and women in the earth. They can’t understand why they’re not getting anywhere in life, circling the same mountain, living for a week or two off to enjoy some relaxation on a beach somewhere, only to come back and do it all over again. That’s not prospering! That’s insanity!

My friend, if you eat physically like you eat spiritually, some of you would be dead of malnutrition. If you want things to change then it’s time to get yourself unstuck. Want different results, do something different. If what you’re doing isn’t working, time to change.  Joshua didn’t get the promised land by staying on the ‘safe’ side of the Jordan, where God fed them all the time. No, the moment he crossed over and the people started eating off the land, no more manna or quail, they had to find their own food.

It’s time to find your own food, my friend. It’s great to go to church on Sunday and be given an on fire, on time word, but that word will do you no good during the week if you don’t continue to eat. Pull out your notes, re-read the scriptures, think about what God is saying and how to apply it to you. If you didn’t take notes, pull up the podcast or get on and watch a good TV minister. Don’t be a one meal a week Christian and expect to see signs, wonders and miracles.

Father, my soul hungers and thirsts for You like a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for You. Your Word is hidden in my heart and I have access to it day and night. I may not be able to quote it verbatim, but it’s in there. I may not know chapter and verse, but I know it. When a crisis comes, I draw on my reserves. I don’t have to run to church and beg for a Word, I run to You. Your Word is aways with me, even in my mouth. Today, I will declare Your word over every situation. I will speak healing into sick bodies, life into lifeless souls. You alone make me strong and courageous and You alone make me succeed and prosper. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Isaiah 30:21 “Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.” What a beautiful promise of direction.

Lets face it, sometimes we come to a crossroad and we just don’t know which way to go. Whether it’s a life changing decision or a small one, the stress of making decisions alone is always hard. Then after you make the decision, you wonder if you should have done it or waited.

When we heard the Lord tell us to make the move from Michigan to Florida, I was excited for the change. I knew it was God just by the way everything fell into place.  Two years later however, I was second guessing the timing, wondering if we’d made the right decision simply because we were in an intense battle. Our faith was being tested. When the heat is on, the questions come and bombard our mind. It’s no different than Eve in the Garden hearing Satan ask, “Did God really say that?”

Sometimes life is just hard. You can prepare for it but it doesn’t always happen the way you’d like it to. It’s those times when you grow the most, you learn to trust deeper and depend on God for everything. I also learned that if I make mistakes, which I do, God redeems them for me. He won’t call you and not equip you. He won’t ask you to go somewhere and not provide for you.

If you’re in a questioning place right now, spend some time alone with God and get His peace. If you made a mistake, learn from it and move on. The longer you stay stuck, focused on your problem, the longer you leave others who need you stuck in theirs. You just can’t drive forward looking in the rear view mirror. Keep your ears open and your eyes on Him who promised to tell you which way to go.

Father, you said, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” Thank you for ordering my steps. What a fascinating journey we’ve taken together and it’s far from over.  It’s a new season! A new day for You to show up and show off in my life. I will plug my ears to the lies of the enemy and open my heart up to the truth of Your Word. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Have you ever misplaced something? Lately, I think I’ve misplaced my keys twice and my coffee once. Goes to show you what I value most. NEVER lose your coffee! Retracing your steps to find something takes a whole lot of time that most of us just don’t have.

I’m reminded this morning of how many times I’ve misplaced God. Incidents and events that seem to knock me off my feet and cause me to lose sight of a very large God. I search for him through a maze of problems, fears and failures only to discover that He’s right where He said He’d be. As close as the mention of His name.

Once again, I’ve made all my problems bigger than my God. Creator of the universe, how silly of me to even think You’re not aware of whats going on in my life. I magnify you, your name is above all else. “Bigger than all my questions, bigger than all my fears, God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see.”

Forgive me for misplacing your position, for humanizing you. After all is said and done, You’ve ordered my steps, surrounded me with loving kindness and tender mercies. “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You” (Jeremiah 32:17). And so I end my eventful week. With all the tornados of life, You have rescued me yet again by reminding me how small my problems are compared to You.

Thank You for leading me and guiding me into this truth. You began a good work in me and will be faithful to complete it. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen

Ever need a rescue? You know, when you’re on your way to an appointment and the tire on your car goes flat? Or you’re driving to work and hit a patch of ice and off in the ditch you go. Perhaps your need for rescue has come in a way where you’re heart was broken, the thing you feared most was being spoken by a doctor, friend, spouse. The money is due and it’s just not here.

We all need a rescue at some point in our lives. Well let me introduce you anew to my rescuer, his name is Jesus. He’s a strong tower, deliverer, healer, provider, protector, rescuer. He sees all, knows all, shows his secrets to those who ask. He hasn’t taken a break, gone on vacation, checked out for the day. He’s a friend that is closer than a brother, he’s aware of everything going on in your life. His name is Jesus.

The mention of his name calms storms, heals sick, raises the dead. He’s not broken, you can still say his name and it still works the same today as it has and will forever. Go ahead, close your eyes, say it out loud, Jesus! again, Jesus. LOUDER-JESUS. Keep saying it until you feel his presence, receive his peace, his assurance that he is watching over his word each and everyday. Jesus! I tell you this; regardless of what you face, his name which is above every name, still works today.

Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” So Father, I seek you with all my heart. I’m so thankful that you not only hear me, you come to my rescue. There I was in the middle of my mess and you came to me, scooped me out and set me on a high place before the flood overtook me. I love you, Lord. I’m yelling out with a loud voice, JESUS, because everything I need is in that name. Amen

Psalm 91:1-2 ERV “You can go to God Most High to hide. You can go to God All-Powerful for protection.  I say to the Lord, “You are my place of safety, my fortress. My God, I trust in you.”

There are days when I just want to hide! Not tell anyone where I’m going or what I’m doing, just hide. I’m sure we’ve all felt like that or perhaps you feel like that right now. Those feelings come when we’re not ‘hiding’ in who God is. We try to do it all by ourselves and when we can’t, we feel like a failure.

There was a day I felt like that.  I was a full time mom, wife, employee, lay leader, rescuer, trying to be all things to all people all the time and it was exhausting! But then I discovered the best hiding place! It was with my Father, hidden in the knowledge of who He is, who I am, and what He can and will do on my behalf. What a great place! The coolest thing is, no matter where I am in the world, I can snuggle up to him and sense his great big arms around me, carrying me when I’m just too weary to do it on my own.

Protector, provider, defender, healer, deliverer, strength, peace-giver, I don’t have to worry about anything, because he’s promised to take care of me. What a perfect Father! It’s like being hungry and finding money hidden in your pocket. It’s like being pulled out of the path of a train, or getting an arm extended when you’re drowning. I love having knowledge of who God is and what he’s capable of.

Daily I will magnify his name and exalt him with my life. Verses 14-16 ends the Psalm like this: The Lord says, “If someone trusts me, I will save them. I will protect my followers who call to me for help. When my followers call to me, I will answer them. I will be with them when they are in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them. I will give my followers a long life and show them my power to save.” I’m hiding, but He knows where to find me.

“Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds.” Philippians 4:6-7 ERV.

What a mouthful of instruction right there. Don’t you worry bout a thing! Just look, He said to pray and ask God for EVERYTHING you need but the key is “always giving thanks for what you have.”

Just as we see whenever the children of Israel fought in a battle, they gave God praise first. Right now, in the middle of the mayhem, think about His goodness. That’s right, think back to THAT day when he saved you and lavished His great love on you. Think back to THAT day, you know, the day you deserved to be fired but got forgiveness instead. Think back to THAT day when the doctor told you it wasn’t possible, but God in the great mercy He’s known for, showed you what He did to take care of that. Remember when your children went after the things of the world? Remember the day they came back to God? What rejoicing. Now look at them, serving God in all His glory!

And the last part of that verse says that BECAUSE we belong to Jesus, Gods peace stands guard over all our thoughts and feelings. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT! Lets sum it up than; Don’t worry. Ask. Give thanks. Peace. Pretty simple, isn’t it. He didn’t create us so that we’d be weighed down with a load we weren’t designed to carry. He wants us to cast it on Him so that He, being a good Father, can care for us.

Thank you for this, Lord. That I can cast it all on you because you care for me. There’s no sense in both of us carrying around all this stuff that’s going on, when your shoulders are big enough to carry it for me. You are a great and mighty God and I LOVE YOU! I lay it all down and rejoice that you have this. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen

I Thessalonians 2:13; For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.

Do you believe Gods Word? Do you really? In the worlds system, ‘seeing is believing’ because this worlds system is based on physical sight. But in the Spirit realm, believing is seeing because in the Spirit realm, belief alone makes it so.

Prime example is from Jesus himself found in 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. There it is again, believe first, and you will have what? The thing you’re believing for.

Luke 7:1-10 tells about a soldier whose beloved servant was very ill. His friends asked Jesus to come heal his servant, but before He got to the house, the soldier sent friends out to tell Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!”  And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.

What just happened here? The soldier believed! He knew Jesus’ words carried authority and believed when He spoke, it would be done. Manifested healing was the result of belief. I believe that part of our issues with not seeing the manifestation of our promises is unbelief. Instead of waiting for it, we give up and make other plans or simply have a ‘plan B’ just in case.

Just in case you’re unclear about it, let me put it like this; when Jesus died on the cross, he paid the price for ALL of it, not part of it. Our debt was paid. Jesus took the keys of death, hell and the grave then gave us ALL authority over ALL the power of the enemy. He said to simply believe, that takes our works and throws it out the window. You can’t work for it! It’s a free gift, salvation, but it doesn’t end with salvation from sin. It continues with salvation from sickness, poverty, disease and ends with death, hell and the grave.

Oh praise Your holy name, Most High God. You have indeed made a way. You gave us complete redemption, nothing missing, nothing broken, total restoration and a covenant promise to never leave us or forsake us. Father, thank you. I stand in awe of one so great. I believe in You and Your Word. I meditate on Your goodness and jump up and down with a thankful heart. You set me free! I’m no longer a slave to sin. No longer bound or broken! You made me new, in Jesus I’m made new. AMEN!