Luke 18:1-8 ERV; Then Jesus taught the followers that they should always pray and never lose hope. He used this story to teach them:  “Once there was a judge in a town. He did not care about God. He also did not care what people thought about him.  In that same town there was a woman whose husband had died. She came many times to this judge and said, ‘There is a man who is doing bad things to me. Give me my rights!’  But the judge did not want to help the woman. After a long time, the judge thought to himself, ‘I don’t care about God. And I don’t care about what people think.  But this woman is bothering me. If I give her what she wants, then she will leave me alone. But if I don’t give her what she wants, she will bother me until I am sick.’”  The Lord said, “Listen, there is meaning in what the bad judge said.  God’s people shout to him night and day, and he will always give them what is right. He will not be slow to answer them.  I tell you, God will help his people quickly. But when the Son of Man comes again, will he find people on earth who believe in him?”

Regardless of how long you’ve waited for your promise, don’t stop believing that God hears and answers you. Just like the woman who knew her rights and persistently called out for justice, so must you continue to call out to God. Unlike the judge who didn’t care about anyone but himself, God cares for you. He has a plan for your life and they are good plans. He simply wants you to believe in him, to remind him of his faithfulness to you.

The Lord said, “Listen, there is meaning in what the bad judge said.  God’s people shout to him night and day, and he will always give them what is right. He will not be slow to answer them.  I tell you, God will help his people quickly.”  Have you ever said, “Why is God taking so long to answer me?” I have! But he is never slow, he’s always right on time. In a time when he receives the most glory and praise, that is when it will happen for you. When you know that no one could have done it but God, that’s when it will happen for you. When you praise him in the middle of your battle, that’s when it will happen for you. Don’t give up! 

Notice this woman didn’t beg, cry, whine or plead; she demanded! “Give me my rights!” When you know what your rights are, you can place a demand on the contract. Find your promise in the Word and come before God simply stating what His Word says, he has to honor his Word. Ask any lawyer and they will tell you, if you have a contract with someone, then by law you must honor that contract. There are no loopholes with God. He cannot break his promises to you. Know your contract. Read your Word. Believe God.

Psalm 30 ERV; Lord, you lifted me out of my troubles. You did not give my enemies a reason to laugh, so I will praise you. Lord my God, I prayed to you, and you healed me.  Lord, you lifted me out of the grave. I was falling into the place of death, but you saved my life. Praise the Lord, you who are loyal to him! Praise his holy name! His anger lasts for a little while, but then his kindness brings life. The night may be filled with tears, but in the morning we can sing for joy! When I was safe and secure, I thought nothing could hurt me. Yes, Lord, while you were kind to me, I felt that nothing could defeat me. But when you turned away from me, I was filled with fear.  So, Lord, I turned and prayed to you. I asked you, Lord, to show me mercy.  I said, “What good is it if I die and go down to the grave? The dead just lie in the dirt. They cannot praise you. They cannot tell anyone how faithful you are.  Lord, hear my prayer, and be kind to me. Lord, help me!”  You have changed my sorrow into dancing. You have taken away my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. You wanted me to praise you and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever!

Notice that David knew when the Lord turned from Him, he was filled with fear. What did he do? He turned! That means he recognized he was going the wrong way and he turned or changed his direction. Secondly he asked for mercy. He knew that God was a merciful God but just because you know something, doesn’t make it so. He asked for mercy. God wants you to ask. He’s simply waiting on you to open your mouth and ask. Lastly, he reminded God that the dead can’t praise Him, they can’t tell others of His great faithfulness and unfailing love.

I believe there is a very powerful message here in this Psalm. There is one thing that God wants from us and that is praise. It doesn’t matter what you’re experiencing in your life, if you will take time to remember what the Lord has done for you and praise him, something on the inside of you changes. If you’re falling, praise will catch you and put you upright again. If you’re in the middle of a chaotic battle, He will pluck you out and place you on a Rock. Praise reminds you that what He did before, He’ll do it again.

Remember the time you were out of food and someone brought you groceries? Only God could have known that. Remember when you were lonely, just needing someone to talk to and your phone rang? Yeah, that was God. Remember when you thought you were going to lose your job and you cried to the Lord for mercy and although 20 people from your department were cut, you were promoted to another department? Yeah, that too was God. How about the time your child was so sick? You had no insurance, no money and you cried out to God, the fever broke and they slept peacefully through the night. That too was God.

Sometimes we get our focus in the wrong direction and we turn from God. Our trust becomes in us and not Him, that’s when fear sets in. Fear separates us from God and when we feel alone and wonder where God is, we must change direction, ask for mercy and praise Him for His faithfulness and constant love. No one likes to continue doing good and not be recognized, yet we do it to God all the time. Let’s praise Him. If God’s been good to you, praise Him! Let’s change our focus and watch God do what only He can do. 

I Corinthians 1:26-31 ERV; Brothers and sisters, God chose you to be his. Think about that! Not many of you were wise in the way the world judges wisdom. Not many of you had great influence, and not many of you came from important families.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  And God chose what the world thinks is not important—what the world hates and thinks is nothing. He chose these to destroy what the world thinks is important.  God did this so that no one can stand before him and boast about anything.  It is God who has made you part of Christ Jesus. And Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is the reason we are right with God and pure enough to be in his presence. Christ is the one who set us free from sin.  So, as the Scriptures say, “Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord.”

Like young David with his 5 stones and sling shot and Gideon, threshing wheat in the wine press, hidden from public view and least of their fathers house, God picked them. Like Rahab, the harlot who helped the Israeli spies and saved herself and her family and went on to be in the line of King David and Jesus himself. Like Peter, who was not chosen by the priests to continue his education because he didn’t show promise and was returned to his fathers house to learn the family trade of fishing. Chosen. Hand picked by God, not because they were smart, rich or had significance. No just the opposite. It’s so all would know it was God.

We as humans tend to look at whether they are qualified for the job. God looks for the unqualified. We look at whether they possess wisdom and understanding, present themselves as having it all together. Jesus chose dirty, smelly, unkept fishermen who worked midnights. He didn’t say, “Clean yourself up boys and after several years of education and a degree in evangelism, you can lead the team.” No, he simply said, “Follow me, I’ll make you fishers of men.” These men were sent into villages before Jesus died, to heal the sick and cast out demons. I wonder just how many mistakes they made? Did that disqualify them? No!

After just 3 years, they received the Holy Spirit and nearly the whole city was converted. How does THAT happen? All glory to God. Isn’t it great to know that once we believe on Jesus and accept His leadership in our lives, we can go and make disciples? We don’t have to wait to be ‘qualified’, we simply read His Word and follow His example. Loving, healing, giving, doing. 

God is searching throughout the earth to find those who just can’t do it on their own. Yes, that’s right. We have enough people taking just one more bible class, one more year of college, one more seminar on evangelism. There’s nothing wrong with all that, but He simply said, “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only.” We need more doers! What are you afraid of? If you were on a road with the bridge out, wouldn’t you want someone to simply tell you that the bridge is out? Hey, we have enough technology we could actually take a picture of the bridge that’s out and show them. 

I leave you with this verse from Paul in Philippians 4:9 NKJV; The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Genesis 15:1-6 ERV After all these things happened, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. God said, “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you and give you a great reward.”  But Abram said, “Lord God, there is nothing you can give me that will make me happy, because I have no son. My slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die.” Abram said, “You have given me no son, so a slave born in my house will get everything I have.” Then the Lord spoke to Abram and said, “That slave will not be the one to get what you have. You will have a son who will get everything you own.” Then God led Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky. See the many stars. There are so many you cannot count them. Your family will be like that.” Abram believed the Lord, and because of this faith the Lord accepted him as one who has done what is right.

What was the key ingredient to receiving the promises of God and being in right standing with Him? Believing. 

Matthew 9:28 NKJV; And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

What got them their miracle? Believing.

Mark 9:23 NKJV; Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Acts 16:31 NKJV; So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

God’s not interested in our performance. You can’t do good to get good or do bad to get bad. He is interested in your belief. Do you believe? First do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Thats good, but do you also believe that Jesus died to take away your sins? If you believe that, why do you keep dredging up your past? Why do you live under condemnation and guilt because of past mistakes? Do you believe that the blood of Jesus is strong enough to remove your past, present and future sins? If you do, that’s exactly where God can bless you. If you are constantly trying to do everything perfectly in yourself, you’re not trusting the work of Christ on the cross. Each time you bring up your sin, you’re dishonoring God by saying that His sacrifice was not enough.

It’s time we begin to believe that His grace is enough. It’s time we believe that we’re forgiven and start walking and talking like we are. If you killed someone and were granted full pardon, wouldn’t you be jumping up and down. That’s grace and we must give freely what’s been given freely to us. God simply wants us to believe, just like Abram before God changed his name to Abraham, father of many nations. When we believe we are highly favored of the Lord; when we believe He is forever faithful; when we believe we’re forgiven; when we believe He never leaves us alone; when we believe our steps are ordered of the Lord; when we believe that Jesus paid it ALL, that’s all it takes to be in right standing with God.

My friend, pray this out loud so that your own ears hear: Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. If there are areas in my life I’m not trusting you in and I’m trying to make it happen on my own, forgive me. I believe that I hear your voice and you direct me. I believe that my children our blessed and great is their peace and undisturbed composure. I believe I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord. I believe that I don’t have to be highly educated or famous for you to use me. I simply believe. That’s what honors you, Lord. I believe your promises are yes and amen. I believe I was created in your image and likeness. I believe you are pleased with me. I believe you’re my provider. I believe that nothing will separate me from your love. I believe that the blood of Jesus is well able to reach through my situation and set all things straight. I thank you and praise you for it and will honor and give you the glory for everything, in Jesus mighty name. Amen

Philippians 3:18-21 ERV There are many who live like enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them. And it makes me cry to tell you about them now. The way they live is leading them to destruction. They have replaced God with their own desires. They do shameful things, and they are proud of what they do. They think only about earthly things.  But the government that rules us is in heaven. We are waiting for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from there.  He will change our humble bodies and make them like his own glorious body. Christ can do this by his power, with which he is able to rule everything.

I recently had a conversation with the Lord about why there is so much crime and insane acts of road rage in our nation today. Here’s what he spoke to my spirit; “It all begins with what they look at with their eyes. Once they see it, they think on it over and over again, then they tell someone about it. Soon what they see doesn’t satisfy the hunger that the initial vision created and they begin to act out. Do you think serial killers became that over night? No. It began with an image planted that stimulated them, soon they couldn’t satisfy their hunger. All habits and addictions are formed in the same manner. Once you partake of it, your flesh desires it and it’s difficult to control the flesh.

“But I’ve made your spirit to dominate your flesh. I’ve made you more than a conquerer. That’s why I’ve told you to cast down every thought that doesn’t line up with my Word. I’ve given you my armor to protect yourself. I’ve placed my Word in you to use, not to lay dormant and unused. You are a spirit, you live in a body and you must control that body to obey your spirit which is one with my Spirit. The Kingdom of God is within you and although you are in the world, you’re not of the world. I’ve told you to come out and separate yourself, that is because if you fill yourself up with the things of this world, you become like them and I have need of you. If the world can’t see a difference, of what value are you to me? 

“Be watchful of what you allow to come into your eye gates. I’ve called you to be like me. If that’s what you truly desire, than you must come up higher, see what I see, speak what I speak, agree with me and not the world. Behold I come quickly. I will recognize those who are mine by their love of others. What they think on will be what comes out of them.”

Father, I humble myself before you and ask that today, you will help me to turn away from watching or doing things that this world has infected me with. I really want to be more like you. Purify my heart. Cleanse my mind. Open my eyes to see you, open my ears to hear you but open my heart to you that I may love like you.

It’s Good Friday, a day when we remember how Jesus lived, loved and did what the Father created Him to be, a sacrificial Lamb. One that would restore fellowship with God and give us back the authority to rule the earth that Adam had given away.  As I was reading this morning, I saw how Paul summed up our lives as believers and decided to include it in my writings.

Romans 14:7-12 ERV “We don’t live or die just for ourselves.  If we live, we are living for the Lord. And if we die, we are dying for the Lord. So living or dying, we belong to the Lord. That is why Christ died and rose from death to live again—so that he could be Lord over those who have died and those who are living. So why do you judge your brother or sister in Christ? Or why do you think that you are better than they are? We will all stand before God, and he will judge us all. Yes, the Scriptures say,“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘Everyone will bow before me; everyone will say that I am God.’” So each of us will have to explain to God about the things we do.”

This morning, I’m thankful to belong to the Lord. I’m thankful for His sweet patience with me because it’s taught me to be patient with others. I’m thankful for His undeserved and unmerited favor on my life.  Each day I wake up, my purpose becomes His purpose because my life is His. I live because He lived. I die to self because He died to self. I give my love to others because He gave His love to the unloved and unlovely. I encourage others because He encouraged others. I trust Him because He trusted His Father. He was and is my constant example, my mentor, my love and my life.

I’m not doing this for the approval of others, but for His approval. Someday, I will stand before Him to explain about the things I’ve done. Every ugly thing will be covered by the blood He shed at Calvary, but of all that remains, I want Love to shine the brightest. I don’t claim to be perfect and those who know me best know that’s truth! But Perfect Love lives in me, I just have to keep the windows clean so He shines through. 

Instead of talking about Good Friday and Easter, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let’s LOVE. Like the old song that goes, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Let’s love the messy, broken and hurting. Let’s love the hopeless, lost and undeserving. Let’s do something uncommon and out of the ordinary. Let’s show Love in ways we’ve never done before and take the world to the empty tomb.

II Chronicles 1:1 Solomon, the son of David, became a very strong king, because the Lord his God was with him and made him very great.

We need to recognize that we are not great in and of ourselves. We are only great because God is with us. We aren’t great for our own gain, but we are great for the Kingdom of God. All of the wealth of King Solomon was used to build God a temple so that they could burn offerings unto the Lord, not so that they could have the nicest church in town. They simply wanted a place where they could pray, a place they could offer worship. 

How far we have wandered from those important things. Our churches have become show places where men and women speak their own thoughts and not the Words of God. Opinions fly. Shows are presented. Music played. But where are our worshippers who worship in spirit and truth? Where are those who fear the Lord and in one voice sing, “The Lord is good. His faithful love will last forever.” Those who hunger and thirst for the God of Israel to enter into the praises of their people. So many have never seen the cloud of His glory fill the temple. So many have yet to see or feel the awesome power of Almighty God.

What is church without God? What is music unless it magnifies the King? It must be more than a meeting place. It must be a place that invites the power and presence of the Lord. When will we experience an infilling of God in our worship once again? I believe it will come when we humble our hearts before Him, surrender our agendas and allow Him to sweep us off our feet as it was when the priests couldn’t stand up to minister because of the glory of the Lord.

That’s my hearts cry as a worshipper. Inhabit our praises, Father. We bring ourselves as a sacrifice and everything we hold dear to our hearts and we lay them before you. Take all of us, everything that stands in the way of this experience of your Glory. We think we’ve experienced something similar at times, but Lord, we want so much more. Consume our offering, that what remains is pure and holy before you. A mighty army of believers who have lay down their lives for your cause. Listeners. Those who are tuned into your Spirit, who hear and obey. May these temples not made with hands, be filled with your Glory and burst forth as light to a lost and dying world. We give you praise. There is no other God like you! No one is mightier, no one is holier. May you be exalted in all the earth. May this world know that you are with us. Make us great for you.

Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No, you received the Spirit because you heard the message about Jesus and believed it.  You began your life in Christ with the Spirit. Now do you try to complete it by your own power? That is foolish.  You have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted? I hope they were not wasted!  Does God give you the Spirit because you follow the law? Does God work miracles among you because you follow the law? No, God gives you his Spirit and works miracles among you because you heard the message about Jesus and believed it. Galatians 3:2-5 ERV

So simple yet so profound. It’s not because of what we do but because of what He’s done. The blood of Jesus was, is and will be enough to cover all our sin and believing in Him and the work of the cross is enough. Well said, brother Paul! Why was he talking like this to the Galatians? Because they again began to follow the law, thinking that by doing that, they would keep their salvation. The law only made us aware that we couldn’t keep it, but the blood of Jesus says, My grace is enough to buy your freedom and keep you free. He gave us His Holy Spirit to keep us free, to lead us into all truth, but many of us don’t want to hear that. We are rule followers, not Christ followers. 

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment; Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and most important command.  And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.’ All of the law and the writings of the prophets take their meaning from these two commands.” Matthew 22:37-40. I wonder why? Because love covers sin. There is no greater love than that and Jesus proved it when he lay down on the cross for us. 

He became for us a perfect sacrifice for all sin and then topped it off with a perfect gift; he left a part of himself here for us, the Holy Spirit. Don’t just take salvation and reject His Spirit. Without Him, we wouldn’t understand the simple truth of the gospel. Without Him, we wouldn’t know how to discern right from wrong. Without Him, we could search the scriptures and not understand what we’re reading. Without Him, we wouldn’t find the hidden treasures of God. Without Him, we couldn’t speak the language of God. Without this beautiful gift from God, we would have no power in our life. 

Father, I’m thankful for your Spirit. Holy Spirit, you comfort me when I’m hurting, strengthen me when I’m weak, You lead me into all truth and shine a light on my path. You are the essence of God, filling me to overflowing. It’s You who never leaves me alone. It’s You who teaches me what it feels like to really love. May those around me sense that and know that it’s not I who lives, nor writes these words of truth. It’s You, it’s all You. And when I have no words that describes how I feel inside, your language spills from my lips and overflows, completely washing over me like a river, taking my hearts cry directly to God as an sweet fragrance, a sacrifice to Him. You and I have a sweet relationship. You complete me. I’m thankful for your work in my life.

What time is it? Well, when I looked at the clock this morning it said 3:00am. I lay there for 45 minutes and realized that perhaps God has something special for me this morning so I got up, showered, dressed, started the coffee and fixed my protein drink. I then poured the coffee and walked to my computer expecting something different, something awesome from the Lord. Let’s just say that I wasn’t disappointed, not in the least.

I heard the Lord say to go to Creflo Dollars website and watch a broadcast. I clicked on archives and went directly to an untitled message on April 9th at 7pm. As I listened, I opened another tab, logged into WordPress, opened another tab and brought up biblegateway and began to read while listening. I know, I was half listening. That is until the Lord said, “Pull the broadcast back up, this is what I want you to hear.”

His teaching was from Galatians 4:24-31 and because of time, I’ll start in verse 28-31; My brothers and sisters, you are children who were born because of God’s promise, just as Isaac was.  But the other son of Abraham, who was born in the normal way, caused trouble for the one who was born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same today. But what do the Scriptures say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son! The son of the free woman will receive everything his father has, but the son of the slave woman will receive nothing.”  So, my brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman. We are children of the free woman.” Look at the Amplified of verse 31: So, brethren, we [who are born again] are not children of a slave woman [the natural], but of the free [the supernatural].

Here’s what he said that caught my attention: “Ishmael was born of natural intercourse but to get Isaac, it was a supernatural process. You are children of the supernatural who will bypass the natural process to see the promise fulfilled in your life.” Then he spoke this prophetic word: “You’re about to see some supernatural interventions in bringing to pass the promises that you’re believing God for.  I declare that you’re going to see some supernatural interventions where you’re going to bypass natural processes as you believe God to see the promises come to pass.  I prophesy, supernatural intervention where you’re going to bypass natural processes as you begin to believe God for the promises to come to pass.  So don’t sit back and think, ‘Well this has got to happen and that has got to happen and that’s got to happen. No no no no no! In the supernatural realm, you might skip 3 of them that’s got to happen and end up seeing it happen.  But you’ve got to come to the place that you recognize, I can trust God for the supernatural intervention and bypass all of that natural.”

2 weeks ago, our pastor prophesied a very similar Word from the Lord. I believe that God is confirming to His people that THIS is His set time. Now don’t get all cynical on me! I don’t care what kind of process you’ve been through, I don’t care what the devil has whispered in your ear, I don’t care if all hell has come against you and you’re about to give up. I’m telling you to grab hold of your promise and hang on because what He has said will surely come to pass.  Psalm 89:34, My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. 

I stopped at the church to pray and as I entered I said to the Lord, “God, the devil erased my blog this morning and I know that was an on time word for your body this morning, so I ask that because of what he tried to do, you’ll give me even more revelation on that and speak loud and clear a special word for me.”

As I paced and prayed, I felt the power and presence of God come on me and this is what came out of my mouth; “I’ve already released it and it cannot be held back. It can’t be stopped, it’s already on it’s way. It cannot be stopped. I can’t take it back. Hang on! It’s here!” 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.

Take THAT, devil. You are totally ridiculous if you think THAT is going to stop me! I’m not going to ever stop believing and confessing that Jesus is Lord. I will be relentless in my pursuit of God and His promises. You can’t stop the promises of God no more than you can stop an earthquake. Once it starts, it will finish. Hallelujah!