Judges 13:24-25

So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him. Then the Spirit of the LORD began to direct him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

God did just as He had promised. He gave Manoah’s wife a son, and as the boy grew, God blessed him. His Spirit directed Samson to the exact place God wanted him to be. When God blesses us with the fulfillment of a promise, we can be sure that His Spirit will continue to guide until His purpose is complete.

When we raise children, we have to trust God to lead them to the destiny He has prepared. While we may try, we cannot shelter them from everything. Just as God gave us a dream, He will give them a dream that only He can fulfill. Sooner or later, we will have to let go and trust God to take our children beyond where we can lead them.

Pray for your children and grandchildren today. If you do not have children, pray for nieces, nephews, the children of a friend, or even spiritual children. We cannot be God to those we love, but we can pray that God will make Himself known to them and draw them to Him in relationship. We have to trust Him to guide where we cannot see nor have influence. While they may wander far from our reach, God is never beyond our reach. Keep those lines of communication open to intercede, and know that God is working His perfect plan in them.

Have a blessed day!

Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

We have no power to spread the gospel or to be His witnesses on our own. We receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us. That power is the anointing of God to do what He has called us to do.

The Holy Spirit must ignite what God has placed in us. Until that happens, we are simply able bodies with much potential and no power to move. God ignites our spirits with His Holy Spirit to move in power. While the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us when we receive Christ as Savior, this is not the same thing as the anointing, which is God’s presence. God has promised to be with us always through the Holy Spirit inside of us, but He must ignite us with power to move out and minister.

The sad truth is that we can grieve the Holy Spirit within us to the point where His presence is not evident. Acts 4:29-32 reveals things what will grieve the Holy Spirit. When we let go of these things – anger, strife, bitterness, unwholesome talk – we allow God’s presence and anointing to line up with His Spirit inside of us and make us powerful in ministry. We line our feet up with His fire.

God wants to anoint each of us to move in power. Let us line our feet up with His fire today and rid ourselves of anything that hinders us in our walk. God has invested much in us, and He wants to use us for the advancement of His kingdom. He has already done so much for us and in us. Let’s allow Him to operate through us.

Have a blessed day!

Luke 10:17

The Seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”

I think we often concentrate on the remainder of that passage and miss what this verse alone tells us. Jesus sent the Seventy out on mission, telling them the fields were white for harvest, but the workers were few. He also told them to shake the dust off their feet when someone wouldn’t receive them. When they returned, they were full of joy as they had witnessed the demons flee at the name of Jesus. He then told them not to rejoice because the demons were subject to them but to rejoice because their names were written in heaven. Indeed, the very fact that our names are written in heaven is a greater victory than casting out demons, but let’s not miss what this verse tells us.

The Seventy had experienced success in their mission. Along with their success, they encountered rejection and the threat of demonic activity. Yet, they learned that some were ready to receive their message, and the demons were subject to them in the name of Jesus. They did not stop when rejection or demonic threats occurred; they pressed on until they were victorious in their mission.

God will not send you out without guaranteeing your success!  While you are certain to face rejection and demonic attack, that doesn’t mean you are not anointed to do what God has called you to do. On the contrary, the very presence of rejection and demonic attack means you are anointed. Keep pressing through in your task because God has prepared someone to receive your message. The fields are white unto harvest, and you just need to keep doing what He has called you to do.

Sometimes we focus more on the “No’s” than we do the “Yes’s.” We need to resolve to concentrate on finding the “Yes’s,” and stop complaining about and trying to change the “No’s.”

Rejection is direction, so simply turn and find another place to minister. God has a ripe harvest waiting for you, and the Devil is simply trying to discourage you from going further.

God has not set us up for failure; He has destined us for success. He has given us power over the enemy in Jesus’s name, so we should simply look for a “Yes” when we encounter a “No” and fight in prayer when we encounter demonic attack. In doing so, we will reap a great harvest, gain victory over our enemy, and help build the kingdom of God.

Have a blessed day!

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

This statement proclaims a bold truth, and the opposite is easily interpreted. If the Spirit of the Lord is not there, neither is freedom. If you are not free from sin, you are, in fact, a slave to it. God gives us the freedom to choose, but if we choose to remain in sin and call it our right, we are nothing more than slaves to the very thing that seeks to destroy us. To turn from the Lord and choose sin is to choose to remain a slave and inherit the consequences of captivity. Only in Christ do we find true freedom.

Being free does not mean we will never make a mistake or fall into sin’s trap. If the Spirit of the Lord is in us, we simply will not remain captive because sin has no right to us. Following Christ will always lead us to freedom. We destroy ourselves by choosing to cling to sin.

Whether it is an individual or a country, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. He is for us and not against us, and He will fight for us if we do not turn away from Him. Pray for our great country today. Too many of our ancestors have given their lives so we could remain free. If the Spirit of the Lord remains in us, we will remain free. If we reject Him as a country, freedom will be ours no more. Those of us who are Christians should pray because we are free, and God hears our prayers. For the sake of those who belong to Him, He can turn our country back to Him. Don’t lose hope; exercise it and call upon the very One who is freedom to heal our land.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 129:2

Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not prevailed against me.

The enemy attacks for two reasons: either he is threatened and wants to maintain ground, or he intends to take what is not rightfully his. That, my friend, means you are of great value and highly blessed. If you didn’t have something someone else wanted, you would not be the target of attack. Satan begins his attacks upon the young and vulnerable, but God does not allow him to prevail against His children. He knows those who are His from birth and protects us even before we decide to follow Him. He allows the enemy only enough success to get us to the place where we are in position for His plan to unfold.

You will always face trouble in this world because the Devil is its prince and ruler. Only when we enter heaven will we find complete peace and rest from his schemes. God will see us through our trouble until we reach our final destination. When the enemy finally thinks he has conquered us for good, we will be resting in the presence of Jesus, experiencing the ultimate victory! Until then, we can expect trouble, but we can also expect God to work it all for our good and His glory. He has a plan for the enemy’s plan, and we are the victors!

If you are facing difficulty today, be assured that it will not prevail against you. If you are encountering enemy attacks, you must be on your way to something good because he doesn’t attack where there is no threat or nothing to gain. Keep moving forward, knowing that God is fighting for you. When you find yourself in deep waters, He is there with you. The enemy is no match for God’s divine providence, and God’s plan for you is greater than the enemy’s plot against you.

Have a blessed day!

Psalm 34:4

I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

More often than not, our tormenter is fear. Indeed, the fear of what might happen is often much greater than the danger of what does happen. I went through this a few years ago when I received a call for additional images from my annual mammogram. Thankfully, they found benign tissue, but my nerves were completely shot during the few hours I had to wait for an answer. Fear can paralyze you and torment you during a necessary wait. Your mind tends to play the “What if” game as you entertain the worst possible scenario and how it will affect you. We need deliverance from the fear much more so than we do the perceived threat.

When we face difficult situations or threatening circumstances, we need to seek God. Praying and praising will do more to send fear running than trying to determine a strategy to deal with the worst. Prayer and praise will remind us that God is with us, and He is bigger than the potential threat. We are in His hands, and He will finish the good work He began in us.

Realize that when you seek God in the midst of fear, He answers you. Seeking Him exercises our faith and pleases Him. The last thing He wants is for you to feel as if you have to face your enemy alone or that you are being punished for something. If this is how you feel, you will not obey Him and will seek to take care of things yourself. Seek Him, praise Him, and wait for His response. God does not give us a spirit of fear; we can be sure that is from the enemy. He is still fighting for you, and He will deliver you from your fears.

Have a blessed day!

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

According to God’s grace that was given to me, as a skilled master builder I have laid a foundation and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it, because no one can lay any other foundation that what has been laid – that is, Jesus Christ.

Foundations are extremely important to any structure. If the foundation isn’t stable, the rest of the building stands to fall apart. The foundation must be laid first because everything else rests upon it. If we try to build the roof before the floors are even laid, you’ll have nothing to hold the structure together while you finish the building. Walls and ceilings can’t just hang in mid-air with no foundation to support them. While this is common sense to most of us, some tend to forget these simple steps when building a church or ministry.

Paul explained to the church in Corinth that he had laid the foundation of their church by the grace God had given him. He had no merit on his own with which to build and nothing from his Jewish religious affiliation to credit for the foundation. He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they had responded. The foundation upon which the church at Corinth was built was Christ crucified, buried, and resurrected for their sins. With that foundation firm and in place, they could build upon the stability of the gospel to create a church fully functioning by the Holy Spirit. The church should not exist to extol anyone but Christ.

In building the church, however, the Corinthians must be careful to build upon the foundation Paul presented and not try to create a new foundation. Whatever is built upon the foundation of Christ must adhere to the gospel and not upon man’s opinions or ambitions. If Christ is not the center as you build forward, the whole building stands to crumble. While we can do good things in our churches and our ministries, our reason should be to draw people to Christ and to promote Him. How do we do this effectively? We build by the grace God has given us. We use whatever gifts God has given us to build our portion and glorify Jesus.

Have you found your place to build yet? Take a close look at where God is working in your life and where He seems to be using you to bless others. Keep building by blessing and serving in the areas you know you can represent Christ well. Be open to new opportunities to serve or to branch out into other areas while respecting your limits. God is interested in building you while you are building His kingdom. In fact, you will know your building is effective and built upon the right foundation when you find yourself growing in Christ. As the ministry grows, you will grow personally and spiritually. So, pick up your hammer, your saw, your paint brush, or whatever tool God has given you and begin to build upon the strong foundation of Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed day!

1 Corinthians 2:12

Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order to know what has been freely given to us by God.

God did not leave us here alone to fend for ourselves. He communicates to us daily through the Holy Spirit. He wants us to know His perfect will for us, and He is not trying to hide it from us. We have not received the spirit of the world from God. He will use us in this world, but what He has for us is eternal and freely given by Him.

When God tells you something through His Holy Spirit, you can have faith for it. You just know down deep inside that something is true. This is not the same thing as fear, which will cause us to doubt the goodness of God. Every good and perfect gift comes from God, and goodness is His nature. His plans for you are for good and not for evil. God opens doors through faith and obedience to the word He speaks to you through the Holy Spirit. We have to check our motives to make sure it is not flesh or fear rising up in us. Submitting the matter to God when we are unsure is the best way to handle it. Simply pray and cast the concern of the matter to God, then wait to see how He responds. The Holy Spirit works through two-way communication.

Are you unsure of a matter today? Know for certain that you have received the Holy Spirit if you are born again. God has not given you a spirit of fear or a spirit that craves the world. Submit your concern to God, and wait for His response. He does answer back. He will speak to your spirit and not to your senses, so look for an answer in your inner most being. That is how you will know that you know. What He has freely given you, He will communicate to you. Simply listen and wait for it.

Have a blessed day!

1 Kings 17:14

For this is what the LORD God of Israel says: “The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the surface of the land.”

This was God’s word to the widow at Zarephath. God called her to take care of Elijah while he was on the run from Jezebel during the drought in Israel. She was not of the house of Israel and was, in fact, from the land of the Baal worshipers. She turned to Elijah, the man of God, for help, and God made sure the supplies in her house did not run dry while she did what He had called her to do.

God has given each of us something with which to serve Him. While it may not look like much, He has great use for it and will provide for us during times of drought or lack. As long as we are doing what He has appointed us to do, He will keep our oil jugs flowing.

What is in your house? What has God given you? How has He equipped you to serve Him? Keep serving Him with what little you have, and He will keep your supply flowing. If He would do this for a widow in a pagan land, He will certainly do it for those who are called by His name. We are not to look at our resources but to the One who provides the resources. His desire is for you to become dependent upon Him and to look to Him as your supply. He hasn’t left you empty-handed or hopeless. As long as you have something to give, your supply will be full.

Have a blessed day!

For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit and with much assurance.

The message of the cross is power. When we share it with others, we give them more than just words. This message is accompanied by the Holy Spirit, and God promises us that His word will not return to Him void. God works through our words and through His written word to interact with the hearts of men in ways we cannot imagine. Never underestimate the power your own personal testimony has to bring people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and to give them hope in this chaotic world in which we live. We have a message of power, and we need to be sharing it.

The gospel of Jesus Christ also comes with assurance. The work of Christ on the cross is more than enough to save, to deliver, to protect, to provide, to heal, and to set free from the bondage of sin. If the power of the resurrection lives in us, then we can have faith that God is with us and at work in us. We need to apply His word to our lives daily so we can experience His power and others can know it is real.

You have more power than you realize. Begin to believe God for your needs and your dreams to be fulfilled in the finished work of the cross, and share with others what Jesus has done for you. Find someone to serve with the gift God has given you, and sow into someone else’s life. Jesus took a small lunch from a boy who was willing to surrender it to Him, and He multiplied it over 5,000 people. When you give what little you think you have, the power of the Holy Spirit accompanies it to spread farther than you could imagine. Be assured of the power of the gospel in your life today, and know with assurance that God is with you.

Have a blessed day!