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Setup NOT Setback

Aug30

Broken PiecesOne of the greatest stories ever told in the Bible is about the young man, Joseph. God gave him a dream at a very young age. However, he wasn’t given the “how” or “when” of the dream.

Joseph’s life was a whirlwind of events. He was his father’s favorite son, which unfortunately, lead to his brothers’ jealousy. I’m sure Joseph didn’t realize that this jealousy would lead him to being thrown into a pit, sold into slavery by his own brothers, and being thrown into jail for something he didn’t commit.

Think what must have ran through his mind. He must have wondered about “why” bad things keep happening to him. Why did his brothers do this? Why would God allow this? What happened to the dream?

Here he was a young man that received an incredible dream from God Himself. You can only imagine his excitement. The Bible even tells us that he was so excited, he shared the dream with his family. Even though Joseph was excited, his family…especially his brothers were not enthused about it.

Best yet to comeJoseph found himself going through terrible things in his life. The more he tried, the worse things became. I’m sure he had no idea that he would hit every brick wall imaginable just for doing what was right.

So, what was his response to all the “so called” setbacks? He trusted God. No matter how bad things got or how many setbacks he encountered, he trusted God. As Joseph said in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.“

Joseph never could have imagined that he was going to be one of the most powerful men of his time. He had no idea that he would end up saving so many lives; including his own family. The very brothers that sold him into slavery.

Yet through it all, Joseph remained faithful to God. There is so much we can learn from his story. No matter what adversity you encounter, no matter how bleak your circumstances look right now…know that God is setting you up for something amazing.

Just like Joseph, we need to stay focused on God who promises that all things will turn out in our favor. We will be victorious and successful against all the odds. It doesn’t matter what is happening in our lives right now. It doesn’t matter if we can’t see a way out of our situation.

We might not know the “how” or “when”; but we can be absolutely certain that our FUTURE IS GOING TO BE BETTER THAN WE COULD EVER DREAMED! GOD PROMISES IT AND IT WILL BE SO!

SIDE NOTE:

From time to time, I share song links to help you stay motivated through difficult times. Here is another wonderful tune that I hope helps you stand strong when everything seems to be going haywire. It is from the Fireproof movie called “While I’m Waiting”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3b2jw1rjBc

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The Fiery Darts

Aug15

23_grace-temptationWhen the Bible tells us “Emmanuel is with us” (Matthew 1:23), then we can rest assure that no matter where we go, no matter what comes against us, no matter what circumstances happen…we have Almighty God with us during all the good and bad times. God is our supply! He has provided us with wisdom, understanding, redemption, deliverance, salvation, forgiveness, healing, and prosperity. So, if God has provided everything for us, why do we need to put the full armor of God on?

Simply put…we have a very cunning adversary who knows how to corrupt, deceive and steal our joy. The devil and the spiritual warfare that rages against believers can turn our world upside down. We may not even realize what is happening because evil and deception come in many forms. Let’s face it…the devil is really good at using those closest to us for his evil purposes. However, our war isn’t against human enemies; it’s a full out assault against the rulers, powers, and the world forces of darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

The full armor of God has been given to each of us so that we can stand against the devil’s schemes and satan’s forces. (Ephesians 6:11) We cannot defeat satan and the dark spiritual forces with any natural weapons. The Christian armor is made to be worn daily. While you grow, mature and finish your course for the Lord, the devil and his schemers will continue to hone in on you and will do everything they can to stop your progress. So what does the full armor of God mean?

The Full Armorarmor_of_god of God

Ephesians 6:13-18: “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14: Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15: and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16: in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.… 17: And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God . 18: With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”

God has supplied us with the armor to defeat all the attacks but we must put it on! We need to dive into His Word daily to know the truth, understand the Good News of His Gospel, to build our faith and know who we are through Christ. With His spiritual protection and authority, there is nothing that can defect us! Christ already gave us the VICTORY!

So the next time a fiery dart of satan and his cronies come against you…use your power and authority of God’s Word to crush and squash the evil desires and thoughts as they rise up within you. A well understood and rightly applied Word of God destroys any menacing adversary!

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SHOUT OUT LOUD…

I am a Child of the Most High God. Today and every day, God is with me! It is through His love, His amazing grace, His truth, His salvation, His forgiveness, His healing, His understanding, His strength, and His Word that I am and will be victorious over all darkness. With God for me no one can possibly stand against me!

Hallelujah, Give Praise to the Lord!

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Run Your Race

Aug9

sadnessHow many of us feel like the picture to the left? Depressed, sad, alone, frustrated, stressed, worried or even all of the above. It is so easy to allow our feelings to get the best of us. Sometimes things come at us so quickly that we don’t have enough time to take a breath.

That’s when it’s imperative that you stop and take a moment to assess what’s happening. Satan knows that his time is running out. And for believers, we have a difficult and rough road ahead. Satan is going to throw everything he can in order to get us off track. Satan loves to bring persecution, trouble, trials, and opposition into our lives. As a believer, God told us that we would have trouble just like Jesus did. However, we are also told that we are to put on the full armor of God!

The Bible is like a treasure chest filled with promises, hope, love, guidance, truth, direction and peace. One of the best quotes from the Bible is:

Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable…(2 Timothy 3:16)

Armed with such a statement from God, you can confidently know that everything you read in the Bible is true. When you open the treasures of the Bible, God, Himself tells us that whatever He starts…He’ll finish. We are also told that we’ll never be alone, we are healed by His stripes, Jesus is closer to us than a brother, that He gives us the power to get wealth and of course the list just goes on and on.

We need to be armed with God’s Word like never before. If we are going to win our race, we need to open our Bibles today and fill ourselves with His word. God will make sure to give you the revelation and direction you need in order to make it through your trial, but we must be willing to spend the time to really get to know Him. Not an “on-the-surface” kind of knowing Him but a deep-rooted realtionship that even when the whirlwinds are swirling around us we remain rooted in His truth.

God is good and there is absolutely nothing…and I do mean nothing…that is too hard for Him to handle. Fill yourself with His word. Get to know Him. Ask Him to have a real relationship with you. Because when you do, I can promise that absolutely nothing can stand in your way. You are victorious in Christ. It is because of Him and His amazing Grace that you will be more than a conqueror through Christ.

The best news of all…

BELIEVERS WIN!

Today's Forecast

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Vengeance Is The Lords

Jul12

bad customer4Over the past few months, one of our family friends has been viciously attacked by another business owner. Our family friend is an 83 year old business woman who has worked extremely hard all her life. After the loss of her husband, she worked even harder. She loves her business and her customers; striving to give them a wonderful experience each and every time. Unfortunately, the gentleman she rents her shop from has no respect for woman in general. He believes that all women are beneath him and are not worthy of his time. He feels it is alright to yell, scream and belittle people just because he owns the building. No one is safe under his roof and confrontations is the norm.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I went to our friend’s shop to help her rearrange the shelves and give the shop a new feel. The energy in the shop had become quite stagnant because of the discontentment the building owner had created. So we worked all weekend, moving and organizing things to help our friend get some pep back in her step. It was fantastic. All three of us were laughing, singing, and just having a good ol’ time during the process. Our friend started feeling vibrant again. She was overwhelmed that we would take so much time to help her so we just kept singing “because your worth it” all day.

Before we left the building, we prayed that God would open up new opportunities and bless her place of business with a newness and vibrancy that she desperately needed. At the very end of the prayer, we prayed and agreed that when two or more agree, it will be done.

Matthew 18:19: Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. that when two or more agree, it will be done. 

Little did we know what God had planned.

Over the course of the next two weeks, the building owner started arguing with his security guard and other business owners who rented space in his building. He became more vicious in his verbal attacks. He found himself under some death threats and lawsuits. It started a landslide of events. The building owner became more and more on edge. His stomach started giving him difficulties. And many shop owners are having to make decisions if they too should leave this ruthless building owner. But all of this still wasn’t going to make the building owner back down. He ended up arguing, lying, and doing everything he could to get some of his renters to sell their businesses to him. It truly was an ugly sight.

Our family friend decided enough was enough. She didn’t want to leave her business but knew she couldn’t go on under these circumstances. My mom went over to the shop to help our friend take inventory and help start getting things ready to move. Unbeknownst to my mom, she had walked into the devil’s lair and a battle for our friend’s livelihood. The building owner was determined to make our friend sell to him. After hours of having to battle this man’s disgusting display of temper tantrums, our friend decided to sell right on the spot. Unfortunately, the building owner kept all the funds for supposedly lack of rent payments. So now our friend was not only out of business, she was out of inventory and funds too.

Now you might be wondering what the good news is in this story. Well that’s the best part. As God tells us in Romans 12:18-20:

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. 20 “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”

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So what happened…GOD IS WHAT HAPPENED! All of a sudden, our friend was being visited by another business owner who heard about what happened. He offered her a management position in his business doing what she loves to do. He personally took her to fill out all the paper work, paid for all the fees, provided part of her paycheck upfront (so she had funds) and took her to meet his team. He put his arm around her and told the team, she is your new manager and we are going to take good care of her.

No matter what you face today and no matter who is coming after you, don’t lose heart. If God can completely change the course of an 83 year old woman’s journey…what do you think he can do for you? My answer…GIVE IT TO GOD AND SEE HIS MIGHTY HAND UPON YOUR LIFE! For there is absolutely nothing too hard for our Lord Almighty! He will put the right people, at the right time with the right opportunity in your life, unexpectedly!

 

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