“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.” God’s Decree. “For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.” Isaiah 55:8-9 Msg

I must remind myself of this daily, sometimes every hour! Silly me! Just when I think I’ve got it all together, just when I think I’m smart and have it all figured out, I think of God and realize I don’t know a speck of what He does. I can’t make it rain. I can’t make it snow (not that I ever would! LOL) but He can. He says here that the way he works and the way I work are vastly different.

Whenever I’m facing a difficult season, a broken heart, an unfulfilled promise, I read these verses again and know that He will complete the assignment, every Word spoken will come to pass. I may forget, He never does. I may break a promise, He never does. I may fail, He never will.

Father, help me to keep my perspective using Your vantage point, not my own. You are God and when all the chaos comes into order, when all the storms cease, when the waves calm down again, You will still be standing. You never give up on me and I will never give up on you. You’re big enough to rule all the universe but small enough to fill my heart. I love you so much and I trust in You always. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Have you ever faced one thing after another and wondered, “What is going on here?”  I have many times! Seems like I’d recognize a battle by now, right? But it seems to come out of nowhere, when you least expect it-BAM! Like an unseen enemy, gloating in the element of surprise.

I was reading this morning from the Message bible in Philippians 4 what Paul said to do;

4-5 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

I soon realized that the key to success in the Kingdom of God is to focus on Him, all day, every day. Keeping Him larger seems to obstruct the view of the chaos around you. Ever run into one of THOSE Christians? You know, the ones who seem impervious to their obvious situation. All they seem to do is worship, praise God, spend all their time encouraging others when its clear they’re the ones who need it most.

It’s not that they don’t know what’s going on, they’ve just chosen what they want to focus on; God. Like the song Ray Overholt wrote years ago, “God is God and God will never change. I know God, God is God, and He always will be God.”

Father, I will keep that in my heart today in the midst of the mess around me, You are indeed God. You are perfect in all of Your ways; Your word is proven and true; You are a shield to those who run to You, rely on You and trust in You. It’s in Jesus’ name and for Your glory, Amen.

We all have plans for our lives, goals that may take us in one direction or another. My plan was to get married and have children. I really didn’t think about education or ministry, although when I was 16, I had a vision of my husband and I sitting across the table from a couple, counseling them. I didn’t even have a clue what that would entail, just stored it away in my heart.

I look back now and see that the plans I had were skewed a bit. Getting married and having children happened, but it was hard, an education in itself. That education though, led us to a place where God would use the broken things in our lives to sow into and encourage others. You see, the first thing one must realize is that God always has a plan. The second thing, He will prepare you through life if you’ll yield to him and allow him to use you.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.” We just had to trust God. Trust him enough that regardless of what is happening in our lives, our marriage, our children, our jobs or finances, His plans are to give us peace and hope. We just had to learn to trust in the God who knows all, sees all and has a plan to use all of what we go through so that it can help build His kingdom for His glory.

One of my many favorite verses is found in II Samuel 22:31 and lately I’ve been quoting it a lot.

As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

He has great plans for me! Plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give me a future filled with hope. His way is perfect! His word is proven! He shields those who trust Him. What a beautiful promise! The word of the Lord is filled with so many wonderful prayers that I like to confess over myself, my husband and children. It builds my trust in Him. I can’t do anything about anything. I can’t control others, only myself. I will trust in Him.

Father, today this is my confession. My heart struggles to find peace at times, but your words says when I focus on you, your perfect peace would guard my heart and mind. Wherever I find myself, you are with me, your rod and staff comfort me. You’ve prepared a feast for me (your word) in the presence of my enemies. I can use your word to come against every deception the enemy would try to put on my mind. So I put on the whole armor of God so I can quench every fiery dart of the evil one. I will stand upon your truth and will trust confidently in you. It’s in Jesus name I pray, Amen.

I’m so thankful that God chose to love me. I’m thankful that He put me back together again. Some may look and say, “He’s far from finished!” and I must agree that I’m a work in progress, but if you had known me then. If you had known me when my emotions controlled me, when every wind that blew made me unstable and threatened to uproot me.
You see, when you have known God, become planted in that deep unconditional love so deep that your roots are strong, than a hurricane could rip through, flood waters could come and it may strip some branches or take your leaves, but you know they’ll grow back because the root is still deep in the ground.
In Matthew 12:33, Jesus said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.” What sort of fruit do you bear or does it bear at all? Does your life give out or just take from everyone and everything? Does it strip others of what they have in order to feel good or does it give to be a blessing? Every good tree sows seed to grow more trees like itself. Nothing is ever wasted.
The things you’ve been through are not meant to be wasted. It merely provides what’s needed to grow and sow into others around you. You can make a choice today to grow and share or keep it to yourself where no one benefits from it. If there are things you’ve overcome, ask God for a chance to share your victories with others so they too may be encouraged to grow.

Father, thank you for the opportunities in life I’ve had to sow into the lives of others. May I always be a sower. Those who sow plentifully, reap plentifully but those who sow sparingly will reap sparingly. Give me opportunity to share from the fruit of my tree today so that others may be nourished and grow from it as well. I live for your pleasure, great King. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

You are responsible for what you allow into your head. You can receive or reject it, your choice. What you allow determines who you become. Some of us have been thinking on the wrong things WAY too long. It’s confused us into believing we are less than God created us to be; kings and priests.

II Corinthians 10:3-5 GW says; Of course we are human, but we don’t fight like humans. The weapons we use in our fight are not made by humans. Rather, they are powerful weapons from God. With them we destroy people’s defenses, that is, their arguments and all their intellectual arrogance that oppose the knowledge of God. We take every thought captive so that it is obedient to Christ.

“I don’t believe there is a God! I have never asked Him for anything, but the one time I did, He didn’t do it!” These words have been spoken to me by several people over the course of  my life. God is not a Jennie in a bottle. You can’t just use him when you need him but ignore him the rest of the time.

America has a president, but if I were to write him and ask him for a new car, I would probably not get a response. However, if one of his daughters were to ask for a car and were of the age to use one, he probably would do that. What’s the difference here? Relationship. If you don’t have one, don’t expect anything.

Matthew 6:33, Jesus said, “But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides.” In other words, you do what He says to do and let Him take care of you.

You can’t focus on you your entire life and then in a desperate situation or report of some disease, suddenly demand He pay attention to you. Not that God isn’t merciful, He is! Not that His grace isn’t available, it is! He clearly wants good things for you. It’s not his plan for you to fail, but he’s given you all the keys to success in his Word and you just don’t have time to read it, to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth.

So, here’s what you need to do; Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Then surrender your life to Him, read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and get to know Jesus and imitate him. Read the rest of the New Testament then go and read the Old Testament and read again the New with greater understanding. Find a version that’s easy to understand. Go online and read it in different versions. You’ll find so much treasure you won’t be able to put it down. Than when you call on Him, he will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you have no knowledge of in yourself.

Father, thank you for relationship. I don’t want to be a user and only call you up when I’m desperate, I want to talk to you everyday, all day, in good times and bad. I love you so much and I know you love me. Thank you for always being available for me. Thanks for taking care of me and my family. You’re the best friend ever. It’s all because of Jesus and the blood he shed that I can come to you in the first place. I’m so thankful for that. Amen.

So trust in the Lord and do good. Live on your land and be dependable. Enjoy serving the Lord, and he will give you whatever you ask for. Depend on the Lord. Trust in him, and he will help you. Psalm 37:3-5

Trust is often a word we use loosely. “I trust you, God,” is often said but our actions show something quite the opposite. The dictionary defines trust as: reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence; a person on whom or thing on which one relies. How can we trust someone we barely know? How can we know someone we don’t spend time with or prioritize?

I dated Walt for a little over a year before we got married. As much as we talked about our past and the things we both enjoyed, I really didn’t know him because until you actually live with that person, you don’t truly see who they are. It’s time that reveals things about their nature, habits (good or bad), integrity and character. You simply can’t trust someone you haven’t proved.

God has proved himself trustworthy to me. I’ve studied Him, invited Him to live with me, to accompany me in life. He’s proved faithful. He’s protected me from evil people. He’s closed doors I tried to push open because He knew what would be best for me. He’s loved me when I was unlovable. was a patient teacher. When others left, He stayed. When I was discouraged, He talked me through it. I’ve hidden His Words in my heart so that I can recall them whenever I need them.

Father, I don’t say this lightly, I deeply trust in you. You have my heart, my soul is yours, you’ve even collected the buckets of my tears. You’ve written my name on your fingers so that when you point to me, you can say, “There’s Sandy, she’s my child!” You feed my love language with words of affirmation. Even when I do wrong, your love seeps through the self condemnation and shows me the blood of Jesus which has removed all my sins. I love how you love me and I’m so thankful that your love is enough. It’s with humble adoration I proclaim Jesus’ name and evoke the privileges that name brings. Amen

Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel and cried out in prayer? God, they murdered your prophets, They trashed your altars; I’m the only one left and now they’re after me! And do you remember God’s answer? I still have seven thousand who haven’t quit, Seven thousand who are loyal to the finish. It’s the same today. There’s a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think. They’re holding on, not because of what they think they’re going to get out of it, but because they’re convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing them. If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago. Romans 11:5-6 Msg

Do you ever feel like Elijah did? There were so few standing for the right things, passionate for God and all He is, willing to lay their life down for the sake of Christs commission. Ever been called ‘radical believer’ as if that’s a bad thing? Ever been asked, “Can’t you talk about anything besides Jesus?”

Have you ever planned a trip out of country? You research, save, choose where you’ll stay. It consumes you because you don’t just want a trip, you want the BEST trip. While you’re there, you take tons of pictures, even journal all what you see and hear because you don’t want to forget. Then when you return home, you tell all your friends, show them pictures, get your journal and tell them the stories. Am I right?

Our journey with Christ should be like that as well. Sharing the love of God, praying for others, meeting together with other believers, reading His word, talking about it, discovering new and exciting treasures. Jesus didn’t say, ‘Go into only the churches that are hungry and share the gospel. Heal their sick. Cast out their devils.’ No, He said, “Go into ALL the world and preach the gospel. Cast out demons. Heal the sick and raise the dead.”

We need more radical Christians who aren’t ashamed to do these things. Who realize we’ve been commissioned to do just that. Taking the gospel to the streets of our cities.  Into our malls and grocery stores, our work places. The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you! Why aren’t you using it? Why are you afraid of what men will think? Jesus wasn’t! He was ridiculed, but not by those who were healed and set free! If religious folk ridicule, not be concerned, they did the same to Jesus too.

The word radical is defined; thoroughgoing or extreme, especially as regards change from accepted or traditional forms. If this doesn’t describe you, than perhaps you’ve never experienced the life changing power of the Holy Spirit. Others will only get excited when they see the transformation in you.  Like the trip, your excitement of what you’ve experienced will cause them to listen and want to experience it too.

Oh Father, I’ve been much too concerned with what people will think if I share and much less concerned with your commission. I want to be used for your Kingdom. I want people to know you as I do, to feel your power, your healing power in every area of their lives. It’s not about being liked or popular. It’s about believing your word and telling it from the rooftops and every part of the realms we inhabit. May I be a symbol of your love today as I go about my day and may ooze from every pour in my body. It’s in Jesus name I pray, Amen

Romans 8:9-11 ERV; But you are not ruled by your sinful selves. You are ruled by the Spirit, if that Spirit of God really lives in you. But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.  Your body will always be dead because of sin. But if Christ is in you, then the Spirit gives you life, because Christ made you right with God.  God raised Jesus from death. And if God’s Spirit lives in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die. Yes, God is the one who raised Christ from death, and he will raise you to life through his Spirit living in you.

There’s all sorts of nummy goodness in these passages, but this morning, I’d like to focus on the the last few sentences which talks about God’s Spirit living in you and me. It says here, “And if God’s Spirit lives in you, he will also give life to your bodies that die.” My first question to you is this; does God’s Spirit live in you? If your answer is yes, than just how much room does he occupy?

Say what? How much room do you give the Holy Spirit in your life? Is it partial surrender or complete surrender? Are there area’s of your life that you still maintain a grip on, unwilling to let go of? Are you willing to take time to identify those area’s and allow Him to control them? You see, the bible clearly states that to be carnally minded or worldly minded is death, but to be Spiritually minded is life and peace. Have you allowed the Holy Spirit full access to your thoughts? Have you taken captive vain imaginations and every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of Jesus Christ?

These are some clearly thought provoking thoughts, but if we’re to experience life in Christ, if we wish to see all the perks and benefits of that life, than we must surrender every area of our lives to him. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Our life must overflow with love for others. We can’t afford to withhold and give Him just a few places in our life but all. After all, would you not want complete healing, not a partial healing? Would you not want complete forgiveness, not partial forgiveness?

Father, as the old hymn says, “I Surrender All. I Surrender All. All to thee my blessed Saviour, I Surrender All.” Every time self rises up to be queen of my life, may I cast my crown at your feet and remind myself who is my King. I humbly ask your forgiveness for areas of my life that I’ve kept leadership of because a house divided against itself cannot stand. I submit to you, Father. To your love and your ways. It’s in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Psalm 135:3 ERV; Praise the Lord, because he is good. Praise his name, because it brings such joy!

Have you ever woke up on the wrong side of the bed? Everything seems to put you on edge! Even when someone is in a cheerful mood, you just want to punch them in the face. Ever felt like that? Hey, I’m just being real. But one thing I’m learning is, my happiness cannot come from external things or people I’ve surrounded myself with. My joy must come from the Lord and to have that, I must purpose in my heart to praise the Lord.

I’ve felt oppression threaten to smoother me and heard my lips say, “Praise You Lord, for Your mercy endures forever!” I kept saying it until the blanket lifted and I could breathe. It’s times like this, times of hopelessness and despair, desperation and discouragement, these are the times when our praise for Father proves to be most affective.

Psalm 42:5, 11 and 43:5, we see David practicing this as he repeats the same thing in these three verses:

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God;
For I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

If David practiced praise, if he talked to his spirit, so must we. Open up the Bible and begin to speak the Psalms as a prayer to the Lord. Begin to exalt the name of Jesus over every thought that would try to defeat or discourage you, for the Word says, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”

Father, I just want to take time to praise You this morning. I praise you for the sleep I got last night, it will be enough to see me through my day. Thank you for a new day! I count my many blessings, the greatest of which is Your Son, who restored our relationship so that I could come into Your courts with praise, be thankful and bless Your name.You are good. Your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise You as I lift up my hands and heart to You, Provider, Protector and Peace. It’s in Jesus’ name, Amen