All Things Working Together for Your Good

Posted on August 15, 2022 by daaorg1214

Romans 8:28(NKJV) is a verse of scripture that is even well-known among those that haven’t made Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of their lives. This truth is a source of comfort and encouragement for all who follow Christ. In it, God declares, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” This is the shining pinnacle of the eighth chapter of the Book of Romans. As God’s people, we are “the called!” We have a destiny in Christ, and whether we know it or not, it far exceeds our greatest and grandest expectations and imaginations.

This verse in Romans 8:28 conveys the perfection of God and the perfection of His Will. It assures us that no matter our mistakes or shortcomings, God loves us, and for those of us that love Him, He will put the greatness of His power on full display in our lives. He will take details, no matter how small or large they appear to be to us, and He will cause every one of them—every circumstance and condition—to cooperate. When He’s done, we can be assured that the outcome will always be for our good. This is very good news indeed!

God works through people and situations to bless and help us. We must never underestimate the truth of this. Hebrews 13:2(NLT) says, “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” This verse holds a very important truth when it comes to one of the ways in which our Heavenly Father helps us. Angels can come to our aid, and sometimes they appear as people that come into our lives as helpers, and then they leave as quickly as they came.

Some worship angels, and we are never to do this. The instruction of the Father in Hebrews 13:2 is not so we will become focused on whether we have entertained angels. It is to open our eyes to His expectation regarding our treatment of others. He doesn’t want us to forget that we are to show strangers and everyone else the love of Christ. We are to treat them with the kindness that we ourselves want to receive. Many of us haven’t done this in the past and we’re not doing it now. Because we have overlooked the direction of the Father in this way, we may have repelled a blessing rather than brought it closer within our reach. We may have turned away an angel through meanness and arrogance, when they were the link to the very deliverance of God that we have prayed to receive.

Heavenly Father tells us in 2Corinthians 13:5(NLT) to “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves.” This must be a continual practice. We must look in the mirror and examine how we are treating other people, even those that do not like us. God isn’t punishing us for our ill-treatment of others and our bad manners. He is waiting for us to wake up and open our eyes. We erroneously think that we’re wide awake already. We haven’t realized the extent to which negativity in our hearts, in our behaviors, feelings, and conversations, have caused us to miss out.

God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11(ESV), “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” In some respects, we see ourselves as very small, so small in fact that underneath it all is the thought that God can’t be bothered with the minutia of our everyday lives. This simply isn’t true. God is the One with the plan for our lives. He wants us to bring everything, from the smallest to the greatest detail, before Him. Ephesians 1:11 affirms that He predestined every individual that He has called, and He has done so according to the workings of His perfect Will. He’s left nothing to chance when it comes to our sonship inheritance in Christ. On this we can depend.

God has given each of us a destiny, but it is our choice to follow it. If we do, we will live in Christ and spend every moment being perfected in him. The longing we have in our souls is often misunderstood and mistaken to be that of humans yearning for other humans. It is in truth our longing to know God, and to know Him so fully that our cups run over. His love is just that good, His countenance is just that loving, His grace is that unyielding, and His power is that all-consuming fire. He alone is our passion, and every detail, encounter, and experience are pointing us in the direction of His rich and holy presence.

We ought to burn to take Him all in, not halfway, but all the way. And we must also come to the realization that taking God fully into our hearts means that anything in us that isn’t of His love and light must die. We might think it’s too difficult to change, but to the extent that we want to please God and grow in Christ, the blinders must come off. God is causing all things to work together to bring us closer to Him. He is doing this for our great benefit, so we can know Him and then be committed to carry forth the purpose of which we were called.

All things working together is a premise we understand. We understand it because we have lived all things working against us and all things falling apart. We know brokenness. We know confusion and chaos. We know when the pieces of our lives are shattered and scattered all over the ground. The war between the flesh and the Spirit is this consuming urge we have to pick up those broken pieces ourselves, and then to try and put them back together again. We cannot. Only God knows how to restore. Only He knows which pieces are useful to our journey forward and upward, and which are not. He alone causes things to coagulate and merge to such a degree that we are lifted far above the conditions that once held us back.

God’s Will and purpose are the force behind life. His Holy Spirit is the worker behind Romans 8:28. God is, as Philippians 2:13 tells us, working in us through His Spirit, giving us the desire AND the power to do the things that please Him. Do you know the things that please Him? This is the question, and the pursuit of the answer should motivate us each day. If we seek God earnestly, the thing which we seek will be unveiled. This He promises.

We are called according to God’s purpose, and whether we know it or not, this calling is everything to us. It will cause us to live the more than abundant life that Jesus Christ made available. But we must realize that progressing to the place that God has destined for us means that some things in our lives today must be left behind. The soul-tie must be clipped and removed. They are weights, impeding our progress and bogging down our lives. If higher is our destination, those things simply can’t journey with us.

God has fully saved us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He will not stop until we walk fully in His light, fully in His love, fully immersed in His Word, and fully living in Christ. Our eyes will be no longer blinded when we know this for ourselves, and we will see with new enlightenment and awe, that causing all things to work together for our good has been God’s handiwork since the very day we were born.■

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The Bridegroom and His Bride

Posted on August 8, 2022 by daaorg1214

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom and the church is his bride. In John 3:29-30(NIV), John the Baptist taught, “29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less.” We should not think of this reference to the Bridegroom and the bride in the way in which wedding ceremonies are done in our time. The imagery for John the Baptist’s teaching is rooted in the Biblical custom of Hebrew weddings. As we learn a little bit more about this, it will increase our understanding about the coming of Jesus Christ and prayerfully, we will prepare for it with greater encouragement and commitment.

The coming together of the bridegroom and the bride in the Hebrew tradition was in three phases. The first phase involved the legal consummation of the marriage which was done by the parents of both the bridegroom and the bride. This was a negotiated match, and in those days, a Hebrew father would be more concerned about the marriage of his son than he would about the marriage of a daughter. He was obligated to pay a price or dowry to the father of his son’s future wife but would not have to do this if he were giving his daughter to be married. These marriages were often negotiated early in the son’s or daughter’s youth, and this usually occurred within the inner circle of family and community. It was commonly frowned on to marry outside of one’s immediate circle because this might introduce foreign beliefs and practices outside their faith.

Just as the Hebrew father paid a purchase price for his son to establish the covenant agreement of marriage with his bride, God sent Jesus Christ to pay the purchase price for us, the church—his bride. He paid the price of our sins when he gave his life on the Cross of Calvary, and we must demonstrate our gratitude by presenting our entire lives to God through Christ. He has set us apart as His Son’s bride, and as such, we must be holy, blameless, and totally committed to Christ. This applies to every believer, not just for a designated group. We all make up the bride of Christ, and his requirements must be met by every individual that has accepted him as their Lord and Savior.

The second phase of the Hebrew wedding is when the bridegroom comes to claim his bride. This is what the church has been patiently anticipating in the return of our Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us in John 14:1-3(NIV), “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Our Master Jesus is in heaven preparing a place for us, and we will live in our Father’s house, and be with them an eternity.

The marriage supper is the third phase of the Biblical Hebrew wedding tradition. It is believed by many Biblical scholars that the interim period that is between the second coming and the beginning of the millennial kingdom is symbolic of this third phase. The thousand-year reign of Christ is also commonly referred to as the Golden Age or Paradise that will occur on earth after his second coming. Revelation 20:1-6 mentions this, and there are many teachings on the subject, and of course, there are varied beliefs. Our aim must be encouragement in Jesus Christ, and to know that we will be with him an eternity, and this is what our Heavenly Father desires.

The rapture is imminent. Jesus Christ will gather his bride in the air when he appears, and this could happen at any time. It is not dependent on the fulfillment of prophecy regarding a set chain of events. We should be joyously awaiting our Savior’s return, when we will be translated into our resurrected bodies within the blink of an eye. Philippians 3:21(NLT) states, “He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.”

As believers whose names are written in God’s Book of Life, many of us are still asleep. Even with the events that are happening in our world today, we are still behaving like the five bridesmaids in Matthew 25 that were not prepared with oil for their lamps. They thought they had more time, and when the Bridegroom appeared, they were too late. This can be said of many believers in our time. They have lost their deep and abiding love for Christ and have not continually put the Word of God in their hearts. Their loyalty is divided because they are trying to be committed both to Christ and to the world.

Romans 13:11-12(NLT) warns, “11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.” We must wake up and recognize that our houses must be in order. We must stop participating in darkness and clothe ourselves in the example of love and light that Jesus Christ left us. Don’t assume you are ready, know that you are by seeking God with your whole heart. Let Him confirm it with His Spirit and do all that you can to live according to His Word.■

Praying for the Right Person to Talk to

Posted on August 1, 2022 by daaorg1214

Proverbs 27:17 NLT
“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

My good friend, Nina, has gone through some troubled waters. Like most of us, she’s had her fair share of the ‘not so good side’ of life. As a child, initially she grew up with both parents in the home, but not long after their divorce, she decided that her mother was too strict and overprotective. Her father, on the other hand, was laid back and allowed her the freedom she wanted. When she was 14, she decided to live with him, and that’s when the first hard lesson about choices and consequences opened her eyes.

After a year of living with her dad, Nina became pregnant. In the words of her father, at 15 she went from being “daddy’s little girl” to “a daughter that made him a grandfather”, and he wasn’t happy. His treatment of her broke her heart. He had been abusive to her mother, and for the first time she understood why her mother had been so protective of her. She didn’t want Nina to deal with what she had gone through.

The father of Nina’s baby provided no support, meanwhile her own father’s behavior became even more hurtful, and she was ashamed to tell her mother any of this. She felt like she was in prison, with no one to help her through a hopeless situation. All she could do was bottle her feelings, and this eventually turned to deep resentment towards her father and insecurity in her own decision making.

Emotionally drained and afraid of what might happen to her and her child, one night she turned to God for help. She prayed that He would send her a friend that would be a confidant, someone that would give her a “safe place” to open up and GET IT OUT!

I have been this friend to Nina, and to others as well. We can all be a compassionate listener that will not be judgmental, but kind and caring. Everyone needs someone that will sit down and listen, and most importantly someone that will pray for those that are dealing with emotional pain. Our Heavenly Father tells us in Proverbs 27:17 that friends can sharpen one another. Again, we do this by giving the encouragement of God’s Word, by lending a discreet and compassionate ear, and by praying for those we know are in need.

Tell God what you need

Philippians 4:6(NLT) says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” No matter what we’re going through or attempting to do, telling God what we need and what is on our hearts should always be our first step. He has all power in His hands, and He is both willing and able to bless us. He will direct our paths and take care of our needs, and we must trust Him with our whole hearts.

Pray for the right person

Jesus Christ commands us in Matthew 6:33 to, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” This wisdom is crucial when we are dealing with a challenging situation and we don’t know what to do. Before we seek the advice of any other person, we must seek God first. We need to hear His truth, and He is the only One that knows the words that will help us move in the direction that He desires for us. We must pray that He will send someone who knows the truth. The right person will deliver a Word from the Lord that will make all the difference in our situations. It will put us on the path to be healed and to grow in Christ.

Pass it on

James 2:14(NLT) tells us, “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? 17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”

Being a blessing positions us to receive a blessing. We should always be willing to do for others what we hope someone would do for us when we are in need. 1John 4:19 reminds us that we love because the Lord first loved us. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ, and he has commanded us to let our lights shine in this dark world so that others may see his love in us. When you pray and ask the Father to help you and to send you a compassionate listener and Godly friend, also pray that He will help you to become one yourself. Pray that you can one day help someone to get it out and let go of their pain. None of us are perfect, but we are being perfected in Christ. All we ever need to do is to make ourselves available to God to be a blessing, He will do the rest! ■

God Makes the Pieces Fit Together

Posted on July 18, 2022 by daaorg1214

“But as for you, be strong and courageous, for your work will be rewarded.”
2Chronicles 15:(NLT)

Glenda was surrounded by devout Christian women in her family, and they had a huge influence on her life. She was trying very hard to live up to their example, but something in her own life just didn’t seem to fit. She felt like a piece of the puzzle was out of place, but sometimes, not only was she unsure about the piece, she was unsure about the puzzle. She was at that awkward stage of wanting to enjoy more of her single life, but also wanting to be in a serious relationship. A serious relationship was definitely winning out, but her hopes had been dashed so many times, that she wondered what God really wanted for her life. With everything in her being she was trying to be patient, but she wanted more information from God, and she wanted more out of life. Not knowing how to turn the dial to ‘next’ kept her mind busy at night with unanswered questions. She just wanted this season in her life to be over.

Many of us are asking Heavenly Father the same question, “When will this season of my life be over?” We all go about our routines every day, but underneath it all, it feels like we’re missing something. We have wonderful people in our lives that we love and who love us, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to fill the void. However, whenever we’re feeling a bit out of balance, it means that our souls need to be drenched and replenished with the truth of God’s Word. Colossians 2:10(NLT) tells us, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” God wants us to know that even though it seems we don’t have all the answers, we know the One that IS the answer, Jesus Christ. He completes us, and through Christ, God has given us everything we need to be all He created us to be.

Even though it may feel like it sometimes, the truth is that there are no gaping holes in the lives of those that God has called. We may feel out of place, but this is often because we haven’t understood 2Chronicles 15:7. In this verse, God tells His people living in Old Testament times to be strong and courageous. He didn’t say “FEEL strong and courageous, but BE strong and courageous.” When God tells us to “BE” something, He means for us to get it done. It’s not dependent on how we feel, it is dependent upon our obedience to hear His command and obey it.

God informs us in Malachi 3:6 that He doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This “trust-and-obey” response that God expects from us is not something you and I can neglect. It is demanded of every born-again believer. We get so busy with our lives, that we begin to run them as though they were our own, but God tells us in 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT), “19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”

We don’t belong to ourselves. Although we think we know ourselves so well, and we may feel some type of way at times, God is in control. He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that He knows the plan He has for us, and it’s a good one. Our pleasure, privilege, and responsibility are to walk with God every moment of each day. It’s to stay in His Word, to pray often, and to seek His guidance and direction in all that we do.

He told His people that their work would be rewarded. Many of us go to our jobs every day, and we expect our employers to compensate us for the work that we do. It would never occur to us that they would refuse to pay us for our labor. Well, God is THE REWARDER! He is faithful to His Word, and He never breaks a promise. He tells us in Hebrews 11:6(NLT), “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” God rewards those who love and trust Him, and this is where our faith must be.

Life’s solutions are always found by looking at the example of Jesus Christ and keeping our eyes focused on him. The challenge for many of us is keeping our eyes on the prize as we patiently endure the disappointments, heartaches, tribulations and sometimes boredom that comes with life. The reality is that “trust and obey” must be anchored in us and God is the only One who knows when it is. Our level of faith in Him must outweigh any other thing in our lives, and His love must completely fill our hearts. The work that we are called to do is to build our faith in the reality of who God is, not in what He can do for us. When knowing God is our sole motivation, He guarantees that all the pieces of our puzzle will fit together perfectly.■

Don’t Let the Pain Turn You Away from God

Posted on June 5, 2022 by daaorg1214

John 14:1(NLT)
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”

Monica handles pressure well, she has to. She’s a single parent with two children, and one has autism. Four months ago, she moved two hours away from her family and friends to get away from an abusive relationship. Brady was so loving and tender with her and the kids in the beginning. He was especially good with Jason. His younger brother has autism, so having Brady’s help had made a big difference in their lives. After a few months though, she noticed that his drinking was much more than casual. He’d get drunk on the weekends, and at first, it was just the verbal abuse, but then turned physical when she’d confront him about the drinking.

When she and the boys moved, she found it more challenging than she had expected. She missed Brady and hated what alcohol had done to him and to their relationship, but she couldn’t allow him to come back into their lives. It was too painful. They needed this fresh start, and she was back to juggling a million things on her own, but she felt different. This time she was really struggling to hold it together, and she wondered if she was finally at her breaking point.

In Matthew 11:28-30(NLT), Jesus Christ instructs us to, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Most of us know that he wants us to come to him with all our troubles and pray for his help and guidance, but sometimes we see our problems bigger than we see his willingness and ability to help us.

Monica was angry with herself for getting involved with Brady and allowing him to be such a big part of her kid’s life. She felt she should have been more careful. On the other hand, the first few months of their relationship was one of the best times of her life. He was everything she wanted a man to be. Still shocked at how quickly things went downhill, she wondered if she’d ever be able to trust anyone again. She decided to put all her feelings and emotions on the backburner and just plow ahead, taking care of her kids and doing what she had to in order to make their lives work. The problem is that bouts of sadness were more frequent, and harder to ignore.

In 1Thessalonians 5:17(NLT), God commands us to “Pray without ceasing.” He knows we have responsibilities at home and at work. He knows we have obligations that must be tended to, so He doesn’t mean that we should be praying repeatedly and continually, 24/7. He means that a large part of our spare time should be spent in prayer to Him in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:10-11(NLT) tells us, “10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And Jesus Christ tells us in John 14:13-14(NLT), “13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”

We make mistakes and errors in judgment, and we sometimes end up in a lot of emotional pain, but we must not allow it to turn us away from God. He is faithful to help us. He tells us to trust in Him, and when we trust in Him, we can rest in Him. This means that we will need to give ourselves the pleasure and privilege of getting to know God on a greater level. Romans 10:17(NKJV) tells us, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Our faith is increased when we hear and learn more about God through His Word. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to keep guard over our hearts because the heart is the place where all the issues of life are determined. If we study and read God’s Word, it will shield our minds and hearts from chaos and confusion and give us God’s peace.

God is the answer to all our problems, no matter how hurtful or complex they may be. He wants a close relationship with us, and He wants to be a part of every aspect of our existences, but we have to do the things He has told us to do. We must invite Him into our situations and circumstances by praying often, reading and studying His Word, and by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The source of our strength, peace, joy, and power is in God. When we turn away from our pain and run into His arms with all that we are, He will not disappoint us. The Lord will comfort us with His love and heal our hearts as we seek to grow closer to Him. ■

A New Creation in Jesus Christ!

Posted on May 22, 2022 by daaorg1214

2Corinthians 5:17(NIV) tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” This verse is speaking to and about anyone that has given their lives to God through Jesus Christ and has made Christ the Lord of their lives. We receive salvation from God through Christ by asking God’s forgiveness of our sins, believing in our hearts that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and confessing with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord. Many of us have done this and received the salvation that God offers, but we have not fully believed in the powerful reality of being a new creation. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us, there should be several exclamation marks after this verse in 2Corinthians 5:17. This is because our new creation is the most exciting event of any in the history of humanity. It is triumphantly powerful and life changing! It decimates evil and darkness, and that’s why the devil is trying to blind the minds and hearts of many people, so they will not know or walk in their true identity as a new creation in Christ.

There is only one reality in life, and it is God’s truth. Everything else is a false representation—a counterfeit, and this counterfeit comes from the devil; he is God’s archenemy and the face of evil. In John 8:44(NIV), Jesus Christ rebuked the religious leaders that were plotting against him. They had not chosen the truth and had not chosen God as their Father. Jesus Christ told them, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” We see very clearly the distinction that our Lord and Savior has made between two kinds of people, those who have chosen the One True God as their Father, and those that are children of satan. So, we can see from the wisdom of Jesus Christ that everyone who says they are of God is not. There are some that are so blinded by the devil that they have given themselves totally over to darkness, and they will not ever see the light of Christ.

It is important for every believer to know this truth, because knowing it allows us to develop a deep well of gratitude for what Christ has accomplished for everyone. Because of the price he paid, those that have accepted his love in their hearts will never see the eternal damnation of hell. There can never be a repayment for this gift, because its eternal value multiplies exponentially with every breath we take.

Because of Christ, we have eternal life, and the extraordinary thing about this is that God doesn’t want us to pay Him back or to even try. Ephesians 2:8-9(NLT) says, “8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” Salvation is entirely and completely God’s Work. Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience to God’s Word plunged humanity into a vicious negative cycle that continuously spirals downward. God’s original intention was to partner with His sons and daughters through an intimate relationship where we would remain connected to Him. Jesus Christ restored this connection to God that Adam and Eve lost, and God Himself is the author of this immense and marvelous work through Jesus Christ.

What is the great design and aim of God in doing all of this for us? The answer is in Ephesians 2:7(NLT). It says, “So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.” From where we stand today, we have a very limited view. We forget that eternity is a very, very, very long time. In our present age, we are continually inspired and motivated by the example of our Lord and Savior. And we are also encouraged by the faith of ordinary humans that are written about in God’s Word. Heavenly Father refers to them as the Great Cloud of Witnesses. They were fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also willing and able to fulfill. These men and women trusted God wholeheartedly. God’s Word never fails, and it will never end. Numerous generations will live in the future and they will also study and learn God’s Word. They are a part of the future ages, and like ours, their hearts will burn with enthusiasm to see the grace God has poured out upon us all.

Ephesians 2:10(NLT) truly is the icing on the cake. It tells us, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” God tells us that we are His crowning achievement. And not only this, He tells us His purpose for making us new creations in Jesus Christ. His purpose is that we, you and I, will do all the good things He predestined for us long before we entered our mother’s womb. Making us new creations was always God’s plan. He knew we would need a Redeemer before He created us. He also knew that in order for us to do all the good things He planned; we would need to have His seed living inside us, which is the gift of His Holy Spirit.

It is recorded for all generations that the devil tried everything he could to keep humanity enslaved in darkness and evil, but nothing can hinder God’s Will and Plan. Nothing will stop God’s purpose from going forward. It would be very easy to blame Adam and Eve for the terrible predicament that they put us all in, but we shouldn’t focus on that. Had we been in their places, we would have done exactly as they did. What we should focus on instead is the overwhelming love God has for us, and the lengths He went to in order to save us.

Your soul has been liberated from the captivity of darkness by Jesus Christ. God has given you a life in the Spirit through His Son. Galatians 5:1(MSG) declares, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” It is in Christ Jesus that we find our freedom, because we were reborn through him to have a life that is totally free. God commands that we no longer look to the world for anything of value, nor can we be conformed to it. That would nullify for us the work of Christ to set us free. Instead, we are to take possession of the transformation that God desires to do in us.

What do we do with this free life? We must understand that this free life as a new creation in Christ is God’s calling; we were called by Him to live free! He tells us in Galatians 5:13-16 (MSG) exactly how we are to walk in this freedom. This passage states, “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.” To enjoy the freedom of this new life, we must love others through God’s love. This is how we live abundantly and remain connected to the Source of all good things. ■

Less Talking and More Praying

Posted on April 25, 2022 by daaorg1214

The hope of every believer is that things will get better. This is always our hope, but we cannot be ignorant of the truth, and we certainly cannot ignore Biblical prophecy. People have been wicked a very long time, and even now, as unprecedented challenges are upon the entire world, arrogance and a desire for more power still consume the hearts of many people. As soon as one fire smolders, another begins to burn with unyielding fury. You wonder what’s next, and how bad can it get. Some of us are experiencing a heighten level of anxiety about all this, but God has not changed and neither has His Word. He tells us in Philippians 4:6(NLT), “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” God has told us to pray instead of worrying. It is our responsibility as believers to get very clear about what God is demanding of us in this hour and figure out a way to make sure it happens.

As we look at the trouble in the world, we know that it is the devil’s handywork, and that it is designed to steal our attention away from our relationship with God. 2Corinthians 4:4(NLT) tells us, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” Our Heavenly Father did not want us to be ignorant concerning His number one enemy. He has told us straightforwardly that the devil is the god of this world. One of the methods the devil uses to add to his kingdom of darkness is to blind people, so they don’t understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their minds are so consumed with this world that they can’t see the truth. They are walking around asleep and they don’t even know it.

God tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:5(NLT), “For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.” Children of the light are those that have come to God, asked Him to forgive their sins, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior by believing in his resurrection. John 1:12(NLT) tells us, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Don’t add to darkness

It cannot be lost on us that there are way more people that have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord than those of us that have. Now, more than ever, we must prove who we are. If we say that we represent Christ, there should be fruit that backs this up, and one of them is our refusal to add to darkness and our commitment to add to light.

Now is not a time for dwelling on the darkness of what we see around us. It is a time for less talking and more praying. God did not cause the tribulation and disappointments we’ve endured, but through them He has prepared us for such a time as this. James 5:16 tells us that the earnest prayers of the righteous has great power and produces great results. Our hearts have been seasoned through every tear we’ve shed, and today we are better able to pray for others with the authority and power of Christ. This is our responsibility as his followers. We must not allow ourselves to be diverted from this task.

Some of us have wondered what to do, because we’re feeling like we’re surrounded by limitation. This must not keep us from pursuing God’s Will. We hear so much about fulfilling our purpose, and prayer is the way to approach it. God tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:17 to pray without ceasing. This doesn’t mean that we can’t take care of our other responsibilities, but we should be praying much more often than we do. And we should be asking Heavenly Father to help us grow in our relationship with Him so that we reach higher levels of intimacy in our prayer lives.

There are places that we can go supernaturally in prayer that will close the wrong doors and open the right ones. Whole communities, even cities, can be released from darkness because of our prayers, but we won’t get there if we can’t control our tongues. 1Corinthians 6:19-20(NLT) tells us, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Your body is God’s temple. His Spirit lives inside you and prayer time should be one of communing with God through the Holy Spirit. We can have a wonderful encounter with Heavenly Father through His Spirit, and prayer, praise, and thankfulness opens the gate.

We can’t commune with darkness all day long, let it inside our eye-gate and ear-gate continually, and then expect it to be easy to let the peace of God rule our minds and hearts when it’s time to pray. No. We must guard our hearts in such a way that we can enter into that blessed place every time the Spirit beckons us there, but some of us are so consumed with what is happening in the world that we can’t even hear the Spirit calling us. Let’s change this. With all due haste, it’s time to get on our knees for our families, loved ones, and communities. So many people are in trouble, so many are desperate for help. We may not be able to provide financial resources, but we can pray for them in faith, and ask the Father to deploy heaven’s armies to help us all. Prayer in the name of Jesus Christ is the very best help we can offer, and we must be diligent to it because God has called us to get it done.■

What the Times Are Revealing

Posted on March 21, 2022 by daaorg1214

We are living in perilous times, and never has there been the level of confusion, dysfunction, corruption, and disunity that we are witnessing today. Some people are paralyzed with fear and anxiety, while others are falling away from the faith in droves. Increasingly, we’re hearing talk of the end of the world, and although this talk isn’t new, the times are pressing, and the environment is boiling. We don’t know what the eruption will bring, but at times it feels very ominous. We know something is on its way and a return to what many consider to be normal is not likely. To ignore the reality of what is taking place is dangerous, but to prepare for it spiritually is not only wise, it will determine where we will spend eternity.

We have had many, many years to indulge a lukewarm faith and commitment towards the things of God, and He has been exceedingly patient and merciful towards us, but even patience has a limit. Jesus Christ explained in Matthew 24 that we know a season by the events that signal its coming. In Matthew 24:6-8(NLT), he taught, “6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. 7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.” There is no doubt that we are witnessing these things now, and as astounding as it may sound, even with everything that is happening, most people are still asleep.

Some Christian prophets, theologians, and well-known teachers say that these things do not signal the end, but others are sounding the alarm. We don’t have the luxury of indulging speculation. Impending peril should not be the motivator, our love for God should be. Psalm 91:1(NLT) declares, “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Our Heavenly Father has promised to keep us under His arc of safety, no matter what is on the horizon, but we have a part to play in this as well.

Romans 4:19-21(NLT) teaches us about Abraham’s faith. It says “19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. 20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.” Abraham had nothing like our modern conveniences to rely upon, and more to the point, Jesus Christ had not yet come to the earth, so Abraham didn’t have the indwelling Holy Spirit. He didn’t have the inward spiritual helper, teacher, comforter, and guide that born-again believers have today. Even so, Abraham walked with God to such a degree that Romans 4:21 tells us he was fully persuaded in God’s promises.

Abraham was sold out in his faith towards our Heavenly Father, and he was committed to do the Father’s will. God holds us totally responsible for having this kind of faith. Because of the world’s culture and systems, we have tried to get away with comingling worldiness and holiness. When you’re young in the Word, and haven’t yet acquired spiritual seasoning, God’s grace covers some of this, but for those of us that have been on this journey in Christ for a while, things are getting tight. God’s tolerance for some of the sinful things we are indulging is dissipating. He’s calling us to get closer to Him so that we increase in Christ and decrease in the flesh.

And this isn’t just about excessive drinking, inhaling and taking addictive substances, wild partying, fornication, pornography, and other worldly things that are of the flesh and we know the Father doesn’t like. Some Christians are doing these things, but some are also dabbling in new agism, with crystals, burning sage, and other new age practices. Many of us have a bad attitude. We’re impatient, negative, gossipy, and manipulative. All these things will interfere with our relationship with God, especially if we are trying to fill the void in our lives with them. That’s the wrong path. We must realize that God is our everything, and only He can fill up our empty places.

1Peter 4:3-5 The Message(MSG) tells us, “You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself.” The times are revealing that time’s up for trying to pretend to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that are not sold out will be weeded out, and this is happening right now. As God’s children of light, He has set us apart for holiness. We’re marked out by Him as His own, and our purpose is to grow up to the full stature of Christ. This is what our earth experience is all about.

The one thing we don’t want to have happen is to get caught in the middle of this season of peril without the shelter of the Almighty. We must understand that we can’t have it both ways. We can’t have one foot in the door and the other out. That doesn’t work. We must be fully persuaded in our commitment to God, because this is what He deserves. We’re not perfect, but God holds us totally responsible for allowing Christ to perfect us every moment of the day. To do this, we must yield to him and learn about him so we can follow his example. We don’t know when our Savior will return and appear in the clouds, but things are getting rough in the world, and will get rougher still. It’s time to be done with anything that doesn’t please our Heavenly Father and focus more of our time, resources, and energy on our relationship with Him. ■

Pain Is A Calling Card for Change

Posted on March 7, 2022 by daaorg1214

Proverbs 18:21 tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue. If we have a pessimistic mindset, we may not be as excited about this verse as we should. In truth, we should be over the moon about it, because our Heavenly Father is teaching us the potential of something that we all have, our mouths. What we speak and how we speak have tremendous impact, because it is a determining factor as to whether we are walking in the newness of Christ or still stuck in old patterns that do not serve us well. Romans 10:10 makes it clear and plain that confessing the truth regarding the accomplishment of Christ through his sacrifice and resurrection transfers us from eternal death to eternal life. Our confession ushers us into new life! This is huge! It demonstrates how powerful our words are. It also demonstrates that heaven, and everything beneath it, pay attention to the words we speak.

And when it comes to the words we speak, there isn’t one in the English language that can express the enormity of speaking life into your own existence. Whether you believe it or not, your own voice carries more weight with you than any other person’s voice. Your conscious mind will believe your own confessions over the confessions of another person. So, when you make a habit of telling yourself the truth, your heart will believe it and your mind will accept it. And ultimately your life will manifest the truth of your confessions, because this is the authority and power of Christ that God has placed in your hands. By the same token, if you confess a lie, it will diminish the value you place on your own life. If you speak words that underestimate your worth to God and convey that you doubt His love and empowerment, your life will manifest circumstances that match the lie you have confessed.

Pain, heartache, and hurt are often the byproducts of false confessions. These false confessions are echoed from wrong beliefs. Pain is a calling card that signals its time to change your confessions and beliefs. We must believe ourselves worthy of investing in our own minds and hearts to this degree. Patterns are entrenched and they have a voice. They bring up all kinds of excuses to keep us stuck in our comfort zones, but we must break out of them and the Holy Spirit will help us. He abides in us, and He is our Comforter, Teacher, Friend, and Guide.

Jesus Christ said of him in John 16:13(NLT), “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.” The Holy Spirit lives within the born-again believer, and he will guide us to God’s truth, but we have a responsibility to allow ourselves to be led. We must partner with God through His Holy Spirit and begin to speak the words of truth that Jesus Christ taught us in God’s Word. Negative people are negative because they speak negatively, and they think negative thoughts. This should not be said about a born-again believer. We’ve been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, and we must rise up in our thoughts and confessions to the level of what we have received.

You’re not in control of anyone else but you. When you begin to speak and think like Christ, people, situations, and circumstances must line up with the truth of your confessions and thoughts. Failing to do this causes life to feel like we’re going around in circles. This is not what God intended for us. He commands us to depend on Him alone, because He is our Source and Sufficiency. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 139:5-6 The Message (MSG) “I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too—your reassuring presence, coming and going. This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in!” This verse communicates the wonder of God’s unspeakable, never-ending grace and overwhelming love for us. His love is a consuming fire as it says Hebrews 12:29. This is the path of love and goodness that God wants us to remain on continually, and to do this we must wake up and come into consciousness about our words and thoughts.

Some may think that their plate is too full to be bothered with the process of change, and others may not value the importance of the transformation God requires, but He is the orchestrator of our original design. He knows everything there is to know about us, and He has set the path that we should walk. He knows where we need to be, when we need to be there, and He knows how to get us to the place that He has destined us to be. In heaven, there’s a complete book written about your life on earth, and it was written long before you entered your mother’s womb. Our Heavenly Father has included all the good things He planned for you, but He will not force you to walk the path that He’s laid for your life. He will not force us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds to His Word if we do not want to be committed to Him the way He requires. This is our choice. We must wake up and recognize that the continuation of wrong beliefs and confessions keep us from the plan God has for our lives.

Your voice has a vibration. When you use it to speak #1 what God says about you, #2 what God says you can do, and #3 what God says you can have in Christ, you come into agreement with His goodness and truth. Whenever we do this, His Word accomplishes that for which He purposed it. Use the conviction of your faith and the sound of your voice to align your life with the newness Christ has made available to you. Speak life into your existence and refuse to allow doubt and darkness any place in your mind and heart. When you take your rightful place of power and authority by being responsible and aligning what you do, think, feel, and say with the example of Christ, God will transform your life.

Rest in the Power of God’s Love

Posted on January 24, 2022 by daaorg1214

“1 Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help. 2 Protect me, for I am devoted to you. Save me, for I serve you and trust you. You are my God. 3 Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am calling on you constantly. 4 Give me happiness, O Lord, for I give myself to you. 5 O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. 6 Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord; hear my urgent cry. 7 I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble, and you will answer me.”
Psalm 86:1-7 (NLT)

“God didn’t keep me from meeting my abuser, so why would He save me now?”

When you are in need of help and protection, all you can think about is wanting it as quickly as possible. It’s devastating that the person you love is causing you physical and emotional pain. It feels overwhelming, and you desperately want relief, but you’re not sure how it will look. So much seems to depend on the willingness of the person that is abusing you to change, so the abuse will end. But you’ve been down that road before, and the promises that your abuser has made to stop the abusive behavior have never been kept. You hate what this person is doing to you and the relationship, but you don’t know how to let them go.

Life is very challenging sometimes, and at the toughest moments, we wonder why God has not kept abusive people away from us. In hindsight, we know we would have been so much happier if we hadn’t met the person or started a relationship with them. Some of us are angry with God for letting us go through the situation, but in truth, we are really angry with ourselves. Companionship was created by God to be a very lovely thing, and He established it with Adam and Eve from the very beginning. He wants us to walk together with a person who equals our capacity to love, but God also desires that we allow Him to help build this capacity within us first. Then we can rest in the power of His love and learn to love His way.

We all think we’re on point, and that we are healed and built up in all the places that count. Our choices for companionship show us that this isn’t exactly accurate. We sometimes choose individuals that mirror our weak places. And since we don’t acknowledge our weak places, but hide them, we sometimes choose people who do the same thing. If we don’t want to see something within our own selves, we’re not likely to readily identify it in anyone else.

We make choices out of our brokenness mostly because we don’t realize the extent to which we’re broken. We may not know it, but our hearts are torn into pieces way before abusive relationships begin. Often, we don’t recognize it until something makes us question our choices and decisions. It’s in this condition of seeing our need to become stronger and wiser that surrendering to God is the very best thing we can do. He will make us strong if we are humble and obedient to His Word.

James 4:7-8(NLT) instructs, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” What does it mean to humble ourselves before God? Well, God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present. There isn’t anything He doesn’t know, and there isn’t anything He can’t do.1John 4:8 tells us that God is love. His majesty is beyond anything you and I can imagine. His sovereignty is absolute, and He is a God with no equal. There isn’t anything in all the universe that compares to Him. He’s God all by Himself, and He is glorious beyond glorious.

This is not just a lot of talk. God’s Kingdom is POWER! He’s all that and infinitely more. This is the truth! To humble ourselves before God is to recognize the truth! It is to know with every fiber of our being that God IS exactly who He tells us He is in His Word. We all think we know ourselves so well, but our Heavenly Father knows everything there is to know about us. He knows us through and through. He knows our level of spiritual maturity, intellect, and ability. He knows whether we are really in a place to be patient and to listen to Him, or whether we’re caught up in the emotion of needing to be taken care of by a man. The truth is that most of us make our own decisions and choices about relationships, and then ask God to bless them afterwards. We don’t wait for His clarity and would not listen to Him anymore than Adam and Eve did before they sinned.

We can never second guess the wisdom of God. Doing so runs the risk of us thinking that we know better than He does. God doesn’t let us down, not ever. Quite the contrary, He helps to lift us up! The psalmist cried out to God for help in Psalm 86:1-7 and like many of us, he did so after facing many hardships. He was not perfect, and neither are we. That’s why thousands of years later, his prayer is just as relevant today for all of us as it was when he first prayed it. God does not cause trials and tribulations to happen in our lives. They originate from the kingdom of darkness. Trials and tribulations come from the devil to attack us in our most vulnerable places, and the devil does this to cancel out our trust in God. We must not allow this to happen.

Heavenly Father knows that we want to be loved because this is the way He wired us. Loving someone and being loved by a quality person is one of life’s most fulfilling rewards. God wants this for us, but we have an enemy that does not want to see anything good happen in our lives, and we cannot be ignorant of this. The other thing that we must never be ignorant about is that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. When we stand in faith, we are not defeated and cannot be defeated as long as our trust is firmly planted in the Lord.

As believers, we know what the enemy means for bad, God can use it for our good if we are faithful to trust Him with all our Hearts. He tells us in Romans 8:28 that He will cause all things to work together for the good of those that are called according to His purpose. We must not think that God has withheld His help. Our situations show us how much we need Him. They teach us to surrender to Him totally so that He can free us from abuse, and free our minds and hearts from the thoughts and feelings that kept us in it. ■

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