Joshua 5:12

And the day after they ate from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. Since there was no more manna for the Israelites, they ate from the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

Once the Israelites crossed over into the Promised Land, they had a time of waiting before they took possession of the land. God rolled back the waters of the Jordan for them to cross over on dry land, just as He had done for Moses at the Red Sea. Once they were across, they took up stones out of the Jordan and built a memorial to remember how God had safely brought them through the waters. Then, God called for a circumcision – a cutting away of unnecessary flesh – as a sign they were set apart to Him. Once they had healed, they partook of the Passover from the crops of the land. At this point, the manna ceased.

The manna had been God’s provision for the Israelites in the wilderness. They were no longer in the wilderness. They had entered a new dimension – a new chapter or level of promise – that would establish God’s nation on earth. They still had strongholds to conquer and giants to overcome, but they had entered the land. They were not yet inhabiting the cities or taking possession of the blessings that God had promised them, but they were in the land and eating of its crops. There was no more need for manna.

You don’t have to conquer your strongholds and giants before God will begin to bless you. Once you enter the land God has promised you, He will begin to feed you and strengthen you from the produce of the land. We all have things to overcome before we can walk fully in the treasures God has laid up for us, but we should never think that we are exempt from God’s blessing until we overcome them. In truth, He overcomes them for us while we follow the leading of His Holy Spirit. He will strengthen us from the produce of the land as we yield to Him.

For us, the Passover is the cross. Once we surrender to Jesus, our salvation is secure in Him. We must then walk out our salvation and take possession of the land God has promised us, which is our ministry. If there is a place in your life where you feel inadequate, defeated, or just battle weary, take it to the cross and surrender it today. Ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit so you can clearly hear His voice. He will begin to bless you as you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and strengthen you for battle. He will give you clear instructions and victory over your strongholds as you do what He tells you to do. He has promised you the land, and He will equip you to take it.

Have a blessed day!

Proverbs 3:3-4

Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and high regard in the sight of God and man.

We’ve all had friends that were with us in the good times but became scarce when times got tough. I’m sure we’ve also had plenty of people want to celebrate with us in times of fellowship but didn’t show up when work had to be done. We’ve also had our own seasons when we’ve wanted to give up because the road just became too difficult or the benefit didn’t seem to outweigh the sacrifice. Loyalty and faithfulness can be measured only in the difficulty of a venture.

Solomon in all of his wisdom encourages us to be loyal and faithful. In so doing, we will gain favor with God and man. Whether in friendship, service to our church or local community, or within our own families, loyalty and faithfulness are important to us and to those we love. Just as we need people to be loyal and faithful to us, others need our loyalty and faithfulness, as well.

God, however, deserves our utmost loyalty and faithfulness. If we are faithful with a little, He will give us more. Will we continue to do what He has called us to do, even when the sacrifice seems much more than any benefit we can possibly see? Will our loyalty and faithfulness be worth it in the long run? When these questions arise in our minds – and they will if we are doing anything worthwhile in the kingdom of God – we need to further consider the next two verses in this chapter.

Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely upon your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths.

When we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we just have to trust that there is one. When we can’t see what God is doing, we must trust He is at work and is doing something good on our behalf. If we rely upon our own understanding, we’ll be tempted to desert loyalty and faithfulness and lose the very favor we need to overcome.

Determine to be loyal and faithful to the places where God has called you. He will reward you. No one has to be loyal to celebrate in good times, and faithfulness isn’t required when you can see your way. Loyalty and faithfulness emerge only when the going gets tough and uncertain. God shines His favor on loyalty and faithfulness, so let them be the jewels found around your neck. Trust in the God who called you, and He will guide you in the right direction.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 40:12-13

For troubles without number have surrounded me; my sins have overtaken me; I am unable to see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my courage leaves me.

Sin creates fear and anxiety in us. We gradually fall into a pit from sin’s attractive lure little by little because we think we can handle it. Before we know it, we are surrounded with trouble and unable to help ourselves. We fear the beating we will take as Satan taunts us with shouts of condemnation and threats of punishing blows. David experienced this and knew just what to do. He cried out to God for deliverance.

When we can’t help ourselves, we can cry out to a God who can. While we may feel unworthy of His help, we must remember that grace is for the undeserving, unqualified, and unable. He is faithful and just to forgive, and He delivers and restores. David learned to depend upon God’s grace and taught us to do the same. We live on the other side of the cross from David, where grace is the provision of God’s new covenant through Jesus Christ. How much more should we as Christians follow David’s lead and cry out to God through the righteousness we receive in Christ!

When it comes to our salvation, we have no trouble believing God forgives us of our past and gives us eternal life. We sometimes subconsciously believe that we have to take care of the sins we commit after our conversion experience, and we are subject to God’s judgment once saved. Our salvation, however, is much more than a ticket to heaven when we die. The blood of Christ covers ALL our sins – past, present, and future. There remains no more sacrifice for our sins because the ultimate sacrifice has already been made, and God poured out His full wrath upon Christ at the cross. We need simply to cry out to God for forgiveness and trust Him with the rest, whether our need be deliverance, rescue, or restoration. When we realize we can’t but He can and let go of our sin, God goes to work to turn our hearts from stone to flesh and to renew our minds to align with His word.

If Satan is taunting you with fear and anxiety, cry out to God. If you feed your fear, your anxiety will only increase, and the Devil will have a stronger foothold in your mind. Dispel his jabs at you by bringing every thought captive to align with God’s word. Cry out to Him for deliverance and stop fearing a beating from Him over your failures. God knew of your failure before you ever committed it and loved you anyway. Simply turn to Him and receive forgiveness. He will direct your path from that point, and Satan will have lost the power to control you through fear. Feed your faith, and starve your fear. In doing so, God will increase in your life, and Satan will decrease.

Have a blessed day!

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Salvation is more than just our ticket to heaven. Salvation actually means, “to be made whole,” and it applies to our life here and now. If we only think of our salvation as something that is good for the “sweet by and by,” we will miss the glorious riches of the abundant life Jesus came to give us here on earth.

When we first surrender our life to Christ in salvation, our spirit is saved, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Our destiny is heaven. Paul instructs us in this verse, however, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds so we can know the perfect and pleasing will of God for our life. He also tells us in Philippians 2:12 to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. God has put the ability to be made whole in us, but we have to work it out.

Our soul is made up of our mind, will, emotions, and conscience. All of these things are subject to attacks of the enemy through our thought processes. If we nourish negative thought patterns, we will eventually act upon them. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 instructs us to take every thought captive to demolish the strongholds of negative thinking. We must come to believe what God’s word says above the lies the Devil shoots into our thoughts and align our actions with His word. By taking every thought captive, we are renewing our minds, which will eventually change our actions and transform our life. Living a life of abundance in Christ starts by changing our thinking and rejecting self-destructive and damaging thoughts, which create a stronghold for the enemy to work.

Do your thoughts and emotions hold you hostage in some area? Has fear, anxiety, or loneliness gripped you to the point you feel like giving up? Take every one of those thoughts that shout at you and compare them to the truth of God’s word. You are deeply loved, highly favored, protected, and chosen by your heavenly Father. He has predestined you for a purpose, and He has promised to work all things for your good and His glory. He fights for you and has raised you up with Jesus in heavenly places. Begin to recite His promises until they become greater in your spirit than the lies of the enemy. You have a beautiful inheritance in Christ, and it is time you started living the abundant life He came to give you. Change your thinking, and change your life.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 31:16, 24

Show Your favor to Your servant; save me by Your faithful love. Be strong and courageous all you who put your hope in the LORD

God honors His servants. In this psalm, David cried out to God for protection from his enemies. Our greatest enemy is Satan, and he will fill our minds with fear if we allow him. Any real or perceived threat we face must battle God’s love for us. Will we believe the power of the threat, or will be believe that God’s love is greater?

As servants of God, we are valuable to Him. He will protect us because He has plans for us. If we give way to the enemy’s threats, we give him power over us. Resist the Devil, and he will flee. Instead of concentrating on the consequences you will pay if the worst happens, focus upon the blessing and protection of God’s great love for you. Trust that He will not allow Satan to have his way with you.

If our hope is truly in the LORD, we must stand strong and courageous against the onslaught of fear the enemy will throw at us. As the Message Bible states, “Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up. Expect God to get here soon.” Just keep doing what you know God has called you to do, and He will show up to defend you, bless you, promote you, and take you further into His purpose because you belong to Him. You are His servant, His child, His good work, and His faithful love covers you.

Have a blessed day!

Ephesians 1:11-12

In Him we were also made His inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to his glory.

If you ever feel like you have failed miserably, this verse is for you! Keep it handy, and make a point to just read it from time to time. When the enemy tries to convince you that you have gone too far or you have missed God’s plan, read him his rights with this! We have an inheritance in God because we are predestined for His purpose. God will take everything – your failures, the life situations that hit you out of nowhere, and even your own rebellion – and work it all out in accordance with His will for you. Hallelujah!

Our hope cannot and must not be within ourselves. On my own, I have no hope of ever succeeding or doing anything right, but in Christ, I can do all things. My hope is in Him, and He will not fail me! When I don’t have the answers, He does. When my own strength fails me, He is strong for me. When I make the wrong decision, He works it out for my best interest in the long run, even if it means I have to do it again to get it right. He intends for me to bring glory to His name, and He will put everything into place to assure my success in doing what He has called me to do. That is my inheritance in Christ, and it is yours, too.

Rest in knowing that God is working it all out for you so that you might bring praise to His glory. Praise Him for His marvelous works – the ones He has already done in your life and the ones He is doing right now that you can’t see. You are not alone in your walk, and He is working for you, fighting for you, and putting everything in place for a great ending to your struggle. That is enough to just thank Him all day long, so start right now.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 35:1-3

Oppose my opponents, LORD; fight those who fight me. Take Your shields – large and small – and come to my aid. Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers, and assure me: “I am your deliverance.”

David knew where to turn in times of trouble. He sought refuge in God. He was not afraid to ask God to fight for him. With the Father on his side, he knew for certain the victory was his.

While David fought flesh and blood, we must remember that ours is a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:12 explains that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. God, however, has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and has seated us in heavenly places at His own right hand next to Jesus. At the Father’s right hand are blessings, honor, favor, and power. We literally take a seat, and the Father fights our enemies for us.

Ephesians 6 instructs us to put on the full armor of God and to stand on this earth. We can do that because God has seated us in heavenly places spiritually. The only offensive weapon we are given is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We fight our battles by standing on God’s Word, proclaiming God’s Word in prayer, and sitting at the right hand of the Father in Christ. God fights our battles for us. He is our deliverance.

Gird yourself with the full armor of God this morning, and pray His Word over your circumstances. Pray His Word over our country. You sit in a place of power in the heavenlies, and God fights for you. Regardless of what your circumstances present you or the enemy whispers in your ear, you have already been given every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. Trust His power to defend you. His faithfulness protects you, and His right hand is working on your behalf. The victory is yours!

Have a blessed day!

Jeremiah 29:14

“I will be found by you” – the LORD’s declaration – “and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you,” – the LORD’S declaration. “I will restore you to the place I deported you from.”

God had sent Judah into Babylonian exile under King Nebuchadnezzar and scattered His people. False prophets were trying to convince the people this was only temporary, but God had declared judgment upon them for failing to obey His commands and heed His warnings of judgment. God’s word through Jeremiah was for them to settle in the land of exile, have families, and hope for the best. They would remain under the iron yoke of Babylon until the 70 years of judgment were complete. After that time, God would restore those who truly sought Him with all their heart.

God still executes judgment and has given His word that He will judge the nations of this earth. He still restores His people who turn to Him and seek Him with all their hearts. The good news for those of us who are Christians is that we don’t have to wait 70 years for God to restore. He poured out His judgment for our sins upon Jesus at the cross, and all we have to do is repent of our sins, seek Him, and receive the grace we need to move forward. This grace includes receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and surrendering to His transforming power as He leads us into God’s plan and purpose for us. When we do, God begins to restore and renew us.

Take your burdens, sins, failures, and disappointments to Jesus. Accept the gift of forgiveness, and seek God by following the leading of the Holy Spirit. He will transform you and renew your mind to walk in fullness, peace, and joy. If we seek comfort in temporary pleasures, such as food, alcohol or drugs, spending, or any activity that distracts us from God’s perfect will, we trade God’s peace for the burdens and strongholds of sin and suffer consequences. When we return to the Father by way of the cross, we receive grace to overcome the strongholds that tempt us and set us back. Jesus paid it all on the cross for us to walk free of bondage, and I want to be free and whole. I want to live the abundant life Jesus came to give. I hope you will join me.

Have a blessed day!

1 Samuel 17:50

David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. Even though David had no sword, he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

David did not use conventional weapons in defeating his enemy; he used what he knew well. He undoubtedly became skilled in using a sling and a stone while defending his flocks every day. The key to defeating our own giants lies in what we do every day. Are we practicing anything on a daily basis that would be a threat to the enemy? Prayer and Bible study may not seem like offensive weapons, but when practiced every day, they can be a powerful force against an offensive giant that challenges our freedom in Christ. Learning to use them well will make you a mighty champion.

A football team practices every day to prepare for game day. They continuously sharpen their skills on both offense and defense. What they do on a daily basis eventually plays out on the field, leaving them either a champion or a loser. Almost any close matched college football game can teach us three things about taking down a giant:

1. Be ready to make big plays when God opens a door. Windows of opportunity often last only for moments, and you must be prepared to run with the ball. Procrastination will kill your chances. Meditation in God’s word will allow you to recognize those opportunities when they happen

2. Expect miracles when the Devil knocks you down. Just giving it your best shot when you can’t see what is ahead of you may be all you can physically do, but God knows how to get the ball in the right hands to allow you to score. Releasing matters to God in prayer will help you achieve more yardage than holding onto care and anxiety ever could.

3. If you are having trouble running the ball, the game is far from over! You can most certainly score on defense! In fact, the size of your defense needs to be even larger than your offense. A good defense can even push the enemy’s offense back on the verge of a score to further secure your winning position. We need to learn to use the direct head-on attack of praying God’s word – BAM! A skilled prayer warrior can shut down an offensive run in a heart-beat! Knowing God’s word is the first step to using it in prayer.

Never underestimate the power of prayer and Bible study on a daily basis. What you develop routinely every morning is sharpening you for battle. The better you know how to pray and use God’s word effectively, the more dangerous you are to the enemy. Learn to use your sling and stone and BAM! You will be able to slay your giant and come forth a champion!

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 69:29-33

But as for me – poor and in pain – let Your salvation protect me, God. I will praise God’s name with song and exalt Him with thanksgiving. That will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves. The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart. For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His own who are prisoners.

David knew to cry out to God when he was in pain. Here we find a broken spirit that desperately seeks God. In the midst of His pain, he determined to praise God and thank Him for what He had done for him in the past. Remembering God’s faithfulness will increase our faith to trust Him in our current crises.

More than sacrifice or works, God desires praise from us when we are hurting. He is more pleased with a sacrifice of praise than with an earthly sacrifice because it comes from a heart that chooses to trust Him. Praise reminds us who He is and focuses our attention on Him, rather than the problem at hand. Through praise, we magnify Him and make Him greater than our issues.

Those who seek God can take heart and be encouraged because He listens to the down trodden and does not despise their lowly condition. While others may turn away from us or avoid us, God has compassion for those who are hurting and comes to their aid.

Verse 35 of this Psalm tells us that God wants to save Zion. His desire is to rebuild the wrecked towns of Judah, which means, “praise.” Restoration of the hurting – the rebuilding process – begins with praise. Praise Him today, especially if you are in the midst of pain and suffering. God sees your condition, has compassion on your need, and desires to restore you. Rejoice in the God who builds you up and never tears you down. May His praise arise in your hearts, and may His enemies scatter in your life. Trust the One who claims you for His very own and created you with great purpose. Make His name great, and experience His full salvation.

Have a blessed day!