Introduction

             You are a world overcomer. Yes, you. No matter what problem you may be experiencing, if it is in the world, God has given you victory over it. The Bible says so in 1 John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” Inside of every born again believer is a force of faith that is more powerful than any attack the devil can launch. Ephesians 6:16 tell us, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” so always remember to take the shield of faith and the devil will not be able to defeat you. You are an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of your testimony.

Running away from God is not God’s plan, but going through is. We grow and mature in the hard times. When we’re going through difficulties, we may seek to ease the pain. But here are no drive through breakthroughs. The  only way is to “go through.” We are Jesus’ ambassadors. We’re suppose to imitate Him. Being obedient to the will of God is not good intentions, but rather it is action. Too often too many are willing, but they’re not obedient. But Isaiah says in 1:19, “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.” We must understand that on our way through this wilderness land, we will have difficulties, but how long it takes to go through the wilderness is up to us.

Our trip through the wilderness has stages. There will be time when we experience real growth and times when we feel that nothing is happening. When nothing seems to be happening, we need to be careful that we don’t try to make something happen. Sometimes God wants us to seek Him so we can go into a deeper relationship with Him. We need to learn to gain and maintain, because after all “HE PAID IT ALL”!

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Jesus Christ Is Coming Again

Matthew 24:32-36

 

             Our Lord and Savior came down to this world to save man from his sins. He came in humility, in the likeness of man and took upon Him the life of a servant. He died for the sin of the world, was buried and rose again and ascended back into heaven. He was seen by the Apostles and more than five hundred believers after the resurrection. After He ascended to heaven, two angels appeared unto the Disciples and told that His return would  be like His ascension. Only God knows when the Lord Jesus will return. It may be in the evening, or at midnight, or in the morning or at noon. “Therefore be yea also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Some have predicted the time of His return, even to the day and hour. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

He will come quickly like a flash of lightening that darts across the heavens for the east to the west. He will come unexpectedly as a thief in the night. “For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” The Lord in His infinite wisdom, will return to reward every man according to his deeds. The Lord has given signs by which we may be able to know when His return is near. The Bible talks about wars and rumors of wars. Nations rising against nations. Earthquakes, famines and pestilences. Much iniquity and less love. False Christ and teachers. Days as in the time of Noah. Signs in the sun, the moon and stars. Distress in nations with perplexity. Men hearts fail them for fear. Men saying peace and safety. Perilous times. Pleasure seeking and formal godliness. Evil men waxing worse and worse. A falling away from the faith. Heaping up treasures for carnal ambitions. Ignorant scoffers. Mockers walking after their own lust.

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With iniquity increasing and love growing cold, many evils are manifesting themselves. Fornication, adultery, divorce and remarriage, homosexuality and adult and juvenile delinquency are rapidly increasing and have become widely customary. All these and other sins are hastening the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. These things are written, “that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us the Apostles of your Lord and Savior” Sinner will fear and saints will rejoice over His return. The question is before us today. Are you ready for His return? Are  you at peace with God and your fellowmen? Is there anything in your life that prevents you from saying, “Even so, Lord Jesus”?

 

Scripture Reference:

Philippians 2:7                                   1 Corinthians 15:4

Acts 1:9                                                Mark 13:35-37

Matthew 24:44                                    Matthew 24:32-36

Matthew 24:27                                    2 Peter 3:3-10

Luke 21:35                                          Revelations 22:12

1 Thessalonians 5:3                           Luke 21:25-26

2 Timothy 3:1-13                               Jude 16-18

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Understanding God’s Goodness

Psalm 27:13

 

             Even though examples of God’s goodness ranges from Genesis to Revelation, the simple truth is that no matter where  you read about Him, God is good. Because it is the foundation of our faith in Him. The more we know about God’s goodness, the more we trust Him. The more we trust Him, the easier it is for us to put our lives into His hands. And only by placing our lives in His  hands can we open the way for Him to save us, bless us and work through us, so that His wonderful will can be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The more we learn to understand God’s goodness, the more we will find ourselves trusting Him. That trust enables us to open our hearts to His healing power. When  we understand that it is the God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom and that no good thing will He withhold from us  and not against, it is only then that we realize that if God be for us, He’s more than the whole world against us.

Our prayer ought to be that the revelations of God’s goodness will help us to receive from Him whatever we stand in the need of. The reason why some have not taken the first step of their journey of faith is because they have never received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. And if you find yourself in this category, you are not alone. There are many people (even good, churchgoing folk) who are in that condition right now. They know about Jesus, but they don’t have a living relationship with Him. I can only think of one reason why someone would be hesitant to make Jesus their Lord and why they are afraid to give their life to Him, that is they don’t know how good He is. They are afraid that if they give themselves to Him, He might not give the good things they want and need. Fear makes them draw back because they are not really sure God has their best interests at heart.

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They do not understand the simple fact that God is a good God. If that is your situation, I believe the truths you read in the scriptures will provide the missing element of trust. They will give you the courage and confidence you need to step out in faith and surrender your life to Him.

 

Scripture References

Luke 12:32

Psalm 84:11

Psalm 23

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You Can Trust God With Your Life

 

            I praise God for those who are true believers in Christ and who trust Him with all of their hearts. But there are some folk who don’t trust Him. And even if you trust Him now, there comes a time when you need to go further in your walk with Him. There comes a time when you need to be more bolder and daring in your faith. Think of the times when you sensed the Lord calling you to do something new, to make a change in your life. Like Peter, you heard the voice of the Master calling you from across the waters of life to new levels in Him. You  heard Him say, “Come.” you wanted to step out of your comfort zone and walk on the water, but you didn’t.

If by chance you did not move when God told you to move, don’t feel condemned. Instead, let the truth began to strengthen your faith. Find out more about how you can trust God. Feed your heart on that trust until   your confidence grows. It is only then that you will know that you can trust Him and not only with your eternal salvation, but can trust Him in all things. Until you settle the fact that you can trust God with your life, your faith is never going to be great because you will always draw back in fear.

Once your heart can grab hold to the faithfulness of God, you will be confident that He will never abandon you or let  you down. As long as you follow Him, He will always be there, loving you, helping you, and blessing you. And with that trust, if God asks you to, you’ll be bold enough to walk on the walk, because you know His love for you will support you and keep you on top of the water. Traditional religion has made people think that they couldn’t depend on God. We have often heard that God gives you things like sickness and poverty to bless you. 

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But that is religious tradition and it is contrary to the written Word of God. God is not confused about good and evil. It is obvious that God has figured out what’s good for us and what is not. He knows it’s good when we have more than enough natural provision in our lives. He knows it’s good for our children to be blessed and for us to be physically healthy and whole. But on the other hand, God knows it’s evil for us to be sick, poor, frightened and oppressed. You will find in the scripture sometimes when God uses the word “shalom” to bless His people. It means to have wholeness in your life, spirit, body and soul.

It means that you have nothing missing or nothing broken in your life. God  knows that the way things ought to be, and that is the way He wants them to be, not just for a few of His people but for every one of them. You got to remember that, “The Lord is good to all.”  The Bible teaches us that God is not the “Author of Confusion.”

 

Scripture Reference

Deuteronomy 28:11-13 Proverbs 3:5

Psalm 4:5 Proverbs 16:20

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The Key To The Courage of David

Psalm 23

 

             When we think of someone in the Bible who truly understood how good God is, one person that always comes to mind is David. God calls him a man after his own heart. As a  young shepherd  tending his flock on the hills of Israel, David fellowshipped with God and came to know His nature. He knew that God was a loving God. He knew that He was good, kind and patient. David knew that God would take care of him, provide for  him, and deliver him from danger.

From that revelation, David wrote Psalm 23. This 23rd Psalm gives us an insight into what God is able to do. You may have quoted it for years.  You may have even thought that it referred to the care that God will give when we enter into His Kingdom. But this Psalm 23 reveals what God wants to do for us while here on earth. While we are in the valley of the “shadow of death” where we must deal with our enemy, Satan.

That is why it is important that we allow the Psalm to speak to our  hearts in a fresh way about the kindness and loving care God wants to give us. The more deeply you understand that truth of these words, the more you will be able to trust God in every circumstance of life. Your confidence in Him will make you bold when others are timid. That is what happened to David. The revelations of Psalm 23 filled him with confidence in God. It made him bold and daring in dangerous situations. When everybody else in Israel was afraid of the giant Goliath, David was the only one who had enough courage to fight him. David remembered how the Lord delivered him from a lion and bear and felt that since God delivered him once, surely God will deliver him from the Philistine giant. David not only knew about the goodness of God, but he had seen how God work in his life.

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He had seen the victories that God had performed for him and just thinking about them made David bold. You and I will be the same way. The more we understand God and the more we see Him operating in our lives, the more victories we will have to remember. It is only then that we will realize that God brought me this far, He will not let me down.

 

Scripture Reference

1 Samuel 13:14                            1 Corinthians 16:13

Acts 13:22                                    1 Samuel 17:37

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You Are Precious

Hebrews 10:35

 

             You are unique and precious to God. You are really special. God didn’t make anybody like you. And He didn’t make anybody like me either. He broke the mold when He made us. You got to understand that God gives each of His children special gifts and abilities that only they have. None of us  is insignificant in life. All of us have a unique purpose in God’s plan. For many people, it is easy to lose sight of that. Many of them don’t feel like they are important in the scheme of things. Satan works overtime trying to rob us of our self-esteem. And if given the chance, he’s even using God’s children to do it. I believe he does this so that we won’t realize how precious we really are to God and how important we are to His plan in this world.

The devil attacks our confidence in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Everyday we are weighted down with worldly ideas of how we should talk, look and act. Sometimes Satan uses people and even children of God to attack or criticize us personally. But, no matter how he comes to steal our confidence away, we need to know that he does have reason for lashing out at us. His reason? TO MAKE THE GOSPEL OR NO EFFECT. The devil knows that when you think that you aren’t worth much, you end up acting like it and that gives him and edge. Faith in God is what gets things done in our lives. But, it’s hard to have faith in God when we don’t have  much confidence in ourselves.

You need confidence to succeed and Satan knows this. And he doesn’t want you to think you’re unique or powerful in any way. He doesn’t want you to realize your position in the body of Christ or your authority as a believer. He doesn’t want you talking to God, getting healing, gaining wisdom about prosperity or understanding what it takes to have good relationships. He wants the Word of God snuffed out of your life. So, he is doing his best to kill, steal and destroy anything that has the potential of helping you to succeed. That includes attacks against your self-esteem and Godly confidence.Hebrews 10:35 reminds us not to throw our confidence away because there are some rewards involved. You get the good stuff when you keep up your confidence, patience and faith.

If you are struggling with confidence in  yourself or in God’s word, you need to stop listening to the condemning thoughts that Satan is trying to beat you up with. Those negative thoughts aren’t true. Don’t spend time with those thoughts. It is dangerous to spend time with them because the more time you spend with those negative, ungodly thoughts, the more they will take root in  your heart and the more you will believe them and live your life based on them.You must remember that you are God’s child and according to 1 Corinthians 7:23, you have been bought with a price. You have divine rights. You are loved beyond measures. You are important and you’re on the Lord’s mind today and everyday. Remember that you are God’s creation, made in His image and reborn of His Spirit. No one is like you and no one will ever be. So don’t let anyone tell you  what you can’t do. You are precious to God.

 

Scripture Reference

Hebrews 10:36

1 Corinthians 7:23

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Living By The Word

Revelation 12:11

 

             There comes a time when we must obey the Holy Spirit. A lot of people have grown up learning “hurricane survival”. Those living in hurricane areas could call off the emergency checklist at the drop of a hat. They don’t have to go through drawers looking for their list of things to do. They know what to do in a “storm watch.” They know that they need batteries for the radio and flashlights just in case the electricity goes off. They need to have a large supply of water just in case the water gets cut off. Candles, matches and plenty of non-perishable food. Everything that is not nailed down is brought inside and all the windows will be taped or boarded up. Most will have plenty of gas in their cars and cash in their pockets should evacuation become necessary. No one should have a problem with leaving town. Joseph was warned in a dream to evacuate his family to Egypt after the birth of Jesus. If the Holy Spirit says leave, then you should leave. We all need to know the importance of establishing a survival plan in advance, watching for warning signals and staying prepared to act. This same practical wisdom can be applied to overcome any attack of the devil.

You should be establishing your survival plan by searching God’s Word for promises concerning healing, protection, favor, peace, prosperity, wisdom, guidance, and anything you need. Feed on the Word of God and keep it in your heart and mouth until it becomes second nature to you. Always watch and pray so that you can readily detect the warning signals and spring into action with the Word. No matter what storm the devil can throw at  you, God has given you power to overcome it. Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they love not  their lives unto the death.”

You must understand that every person is a spirit  and  has a soul and lives in a body. With our spirit we communicate and fellowship with God, receive spiritual revelation and hear the voice of our conscience. Our soul is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions. It tells us what we want, think and feel. And our body is the physical component that house both the spirit and the soul. We must learn how to walk in the spirit and not the flesh. We must learn how to live on a deeper level experiencing the victory of being led by the Spirit. Through the power of God’s Word, you can escape being lead by your head and be guided by the Spirit instead.

 

Scriptural Reference

John 1:1                              Psalm 19:7

Psalm 119:9                       Acts 20:32

Romans 15:4                      2 Timothy 3:16-17

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