ABIDE IN HIM

John 15:7 (NKJV) “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

What a promise!  Sometimes we read verses like this and our head says, “Can this be true?  Does it really mean what it says?”  Then, deep down in our hearts, we know that it is.  We say, “God is not a man that He should lie.  If He said it, then it is true!”

The Message Bible says it like this in John 15:7: “But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.”  The key to this verse is letting God's Word be at home within us.

Too many times, we have what is called a head-knowledge of the Word.  We believe it in our heads, and we say, “Yes, that is right.  That is what the Bible says,” but deep within us, we do not believe it.  The key to true faith is believing in our hearts.  Here, as we let God's Word get in our mind (soul), and then we ponder on it and let it get into our heart, we will see the last part of this verse come to pass: "You will ask what you will and it shall be done for you.”

You might say, “Ok Pastor, whatever we ask for, we can have.  That is kind of stretching the line, right?”  But you see, if you have His Word deep within you, and His Word at home within you, you would never ask for anything that would be outside His Word.

My heart is not to do just what I want.  I want to see His kingdom come and His will be done, here on earth, as it is in heaven.  My heart is to bless others, and to help them become all that God, their Heavenly Father, wants them to become.

So today, let us get His Word deep within us.  As we do that, let us ask for things that will change our world for His honor and glory.  Let us do all that we can to make our world, His world, and see many come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!

Confession:  Today, I am going to let God's Word go from my head to my heart, and I am going to ask for the things of the kingdom.  I want God's will done in my life, and throughout the world!

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COME, LORD JESUS, COME

Isaiah 65:17 (NLTSE) Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.

Can you see it?  A new heaven and a new earth that is so amazing that we will not even think of this old one.  Now that should get our priorities in line.  God, our Father, has blessed us with so much in this life.  There is nothing wrong with these blessings, but if all of this life is going to pass away, and the new world that God has in store for us is beyond words, then we need to set our priorities in order.

Too often, we become so earthly-minded, and so flesh-ruled, but God wants us to live by faith and walk by His Spirit.  You might ask, “How do I walk in the spirit?  Is this some twilight-zone type of walking?”  No, to walk in the spirit means to put the things of God first; to set our affections on things above and not on things of this earth.

All that we see, and all that we have, will one day be replaced with something so much better.  This world, as C.S. Lewis states, is just a “Shadowland” of what is to come.  What is to come is so beyond words, that this verse says that we will not even remember this world!

So today, make a decision to think God’s thoughts and to think God's ways, and you will find out that His ways are so much better than our ways, and His thoughts are so much better than our thoughts.

All of this world’s system is falling apart because people have tried to raise themselves up, and to call themselves gods.  But we, as Christians, know so much better.  We know the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is therein.  So look up!  Our day of total redemption is upon us, and soon we will hear the voice of our great God saying, “Come on up to your true home!”  Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Confession:  The King is coming, and I want to be ready to meet Him!  I set my mind and my heart to look to the eternal, and not to live so earthly-minded.  I want to hear my Lord say at His return, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

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DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE

Hebrews 10:35-36 (KJV) Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Confidence; so many people lack it, yet here in this verse it tells us not to cast it away.  This word has such power in it because, without confidence in God, we will never see the answers to our prayers, dreams, and visions.  Our confidence, or our knowing that we know that we know, will always bring the reward, or the answer, to what we are trusting God for.

Over my many years of being a Christian, I have seen people start off well, and then lose their confidence and fall from the faith.  Here it tells us that if we would hold onto our faith, or assurance, we will reap a great reward.

Well, you might say, “How do I do this?”  The next verse gives us the answer.  "You have need of patience."   Now that is a tough one.  We have heard many pray like this, “Lord, I pray for patience and I ask you to give it to me right now!”  That might sound funny, yet many of us think this is the way it happens.  However, we see from the Bible that patience is a fruit of the Spirit and, like any fruit, we have to water the plant and tend to it to receive a good return.

As we wait upon the Lord, and let Him do what He needs to do on the inside of us, our trust gets off of ourselves and goes to Him.  Remember, God always wants to work a good work inside of us before we see any of these fruits on the outside.  The roots need to go deep, so that no matter what comes against us, we will stand!

So today, do not cast away your confidence, because there is a great reward coming!  Be patient.  God is still working on you and, at the right time, He will bring it to pass.

Confession:  Today, I am going to let the Lord do in me what He knows needs to be done.  I will be patient, and I will not cast away my confidence, because God is on my side.  He will make it all work out at the right time, and with a great reward.

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PLANT THOSE ROOTS DEEP

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NKJV) “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Blessed!  How many of us enjoy that word?   I want to be blessed in all that I do.  I want to be blessed in all that the Lord has given me to do.  So here it says that the person that is blessed is the one who puts his trust and hope in God.

You see, many times we trust in man, and we can even make idols of people.  We trust that they will get us out of this situation, or they will do this or that.  In these verses, the Lord is saying that if we put our trust in Him, He will take good care of us.

In verse eight, He states that we will be like a tree planted by the waters that puts its roots deep.  When drought comes to the world, we have our Father's assurance that it is all going to be fine for us.  In fact, it is going to be better then fine.  During times of drought, we will not stop yielding fruit.

Now that is not famine; that is abundance!  Even when things in this world are going crazy, if I put God in charge of my time, talent, and treasure, and give Him what He asks of me, then no matter what happens to this world system, God will continue to bless me.  I have heard stories that even during the Great Depression, as people continued to give God the first part of their increase, God provided for and blessed them.  Our God is faithful to His Word!

So today, do not lean on the world system that is going to collapse.  Lean on God's Word and His ways, and watch the blessings come your way.  He is not a man that He should lie.  He is ever truthful.

Confession:  Today, I choose God's ways and not what I think, or even see, of this world’s system.  Even though I am in this world, I am not of it.  God has a greater blessing in store for me.

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THE WORKS OF GOD

John 6:28-29 (NKJV) Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Many times in our walk of faith, we try to do things to get God's approval.  We think, “Well, if I would just read my Bible more, or if I would pray more.  Or maybe what I need to do is fast, that will get God to answer my prayers.”

One thing that I always say is, “How much do I need to pray?”  I hear of people who prayed three or four hours a day, and I say, “Is that what I have to do?”  I think of a young mother with two or three kids running around.  Is she able to do this?  If she cannot, would that mean that she can never get close to God?

No, Jesus told the woman at the well that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.  You see, God is looking for a heart-to-heart relationship with us, not a works relationship.  In this scripture passage, they came to Jesus and asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered that it is not the works of God that God is looking for.  It is to believe in the One that God has sent, and we know His name is JESUS! 

We know that there is nothing wrong with good works.  In fact, once we are saved, we need to do good works.  That is the fruit that comes from a “good tree.”  But the most important thing we can do is to receive God's free gift of salvation that can only come through His Son, Jesus Christ.

So today, believe on the Son, and all that He did at the cross, and in His resurrection, and let the good deeds flow from within you.  Remember, you have peace with God because of Jesus Christ!

Confession:  I believe on the free gift that God has sent: Jesus Christ.  I believe that He has come into the world to seek and to save those that are lost, and that includes me!  I thank You, Father, for the true works of God; the finished work of the cross.

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GOD IS FOR YOU

Romans 8:31-32 (NKJV) What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

This is a verse that we should claim every day of our lives.  “If God is for us?”  Stop there for a moment and think about that.  God, your Father, is for you!   He wants you to succeed, to be well, and to be blessed.  Any good earthly father would want that for his children.  How much more the Father of fathers?

Our Heavenly Father is so for us, that it does not matter who would be against us.  Even if everyone in this world is against me, I have the One who created the world on my side!  We used to say as kids, "My dad's bigger than your dad," and you know, sometimes he was and sometimes he was not.  But in this case, we boldly declare that our Dad is bigger than anything that this world can throw at us!

You might say, “I have messed so many things up in my life, God could not restore them.”  Why not?  Throughout the Bible, we see people who have messed up, and how God restored them.  Jesus did not come for only those who are well; He came for us that are sick. 

We see Jesus empowering the woman at the well who was married five times and was living with a guy.  We see Jesus helping the woman caught in adultery.  We see Jesus having dinner with a tax collector, and we see the Father running to embrace his prodigal son. These stories of real people's lives were written for you and for me.  They were written so that you might know that God is for you and not against you.  That He is on your side, and today, He wants you to be a winner in life.  He wants you blessed so you can be a blessing.

Confession:  My Heavenly Father is for me.  He wants me to succeed and be blessed.   He wants me so blessed, today, that it will overflow to others.  My Father cares about the big and little things in my life.  With this knowledge, I know that I can win in life!

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GIVE THANKS

2 Corinthians 9:15 (AMP) Now thanks be to God for His Gift, [precious] beyond telling [His indescribable, inexpressible, free Gift]!

Ephesians 5:20 (NKJV) Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving is here!  When we think of this day, we, as Christians, should rise up and GIVE THANKS, no matter what life has brought our way.  We, as Christians, have a hope that the unsaved do not have. 

You might say, “Well, if you knew my life, you would not be saying that.  But I think of the words of Jesus that He said to His disciples when they came back from a mission trip and were so excited about casting out devils:

Luke 10:20, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

You and I have a blessed hope.  We have eternal life within us.  One day, all of this is going to be gone, and we will be living with Him for all eternity.  All that is in this world is going to pass away, but all that we do for Christ will last forever.

So today, I want to let you in on a little secret.  The way to have victory, and to live above the things of this world, is to give thanks.  Not to give thanks for the evil the devil might be bringing against you, but to rejoice because your Father in heaven is with you, and will always give you the victory, if you keep your trust in Him.

When trials come, and they come to all of us, start praising the Father and giving Him thanks.  Lift up your eyes to Him and rejoice in His goodness.  Do not dwell on what the enemy is trying to bring against you, but dwell on the One who is able to deliver you and bring you to a higher place.

So this Thanksgiving, REJOICE, and give thanks!  This pleases the Father, and shows Him that your trust is in Him, and not in the situations of life.  Rejoice today, because your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!

Confession:  Today, I make a decision not to dwell on all that is going on in me, or in the world.  Instead, I will dwell on my Father’s goodness, and give Him thanks on this Thanksgiving Day!

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