Do you know God’s will for your life?

Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Ephesians 1:8-10 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE(s)
Jesus is Lord! God’s plan was purposed in Christ from the very beginning. It centered on Christ coming at the right time (God’s perfect timing). God’s plan was to bring unity to His people in and through Christ by making Him Lord of all! What’s more, this plan that brings our salvation brings God great pleasure. God is the only loving, saving God and Jesus, who is God the Son, is both our Lord first, and then our Savior. Knowing God’s will is probably the most important thing you need to know. It really irks me when I hear people say/pray: “God, if it be Your will.” FIND OUT HIS WILL!! Read and study His Word until you know His will!! If you know God’s will then you will know how to pray properly. If you pray properly then your prayers are always answered!
So the real issue we face today is this: What area of our lives, our hearts, our secrets, our sin, our rebellion, have we not submitted to His Lordship? For when we have fully submitted ourselves unto His Lordship then and only then will we see the manifestations of all His promises begin to take shape in our lives. “On Earth just as it is in Heaven!”.

MY PRAYER…
O Precious Father, I know my heart can be deceitful. At times I even fool myself. But when I kneel in Your presence and I am convicted by Your Word, I find myself reminded of the areas I have not yet fully submitted to Your control and to Jesus’ lordship. Please, dear Father, use Your Holy Spirit to gently show and convict me of my self-deception so that I may be wholly lost in Your will. Help me Father by giving me the want to to submit all to you and then the power to do so. Through Jesus, Lord of lords, and King of Kings, I pray.
Amen

Seedtime and harvest!
Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? “It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; “but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”
Mark 4:30-32

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE(s)
Jesus compares how the Kingdom of God works to that of planting seeds in the earth.
“Seedtime and harvest…, everything produces after it’s own kind….”
Genesis 8: 22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

Take Note here Jesus didn’t say that the seed might grow or that it would only grow if it was God’s will! It really irks me when I hear people pray: “God, if it be Your will.” FIND OUT HIS WILL!! Read and study His Word until you know His will!!
No, He said, “It grows up and becomes greater.” Period.

God’s economy isn’t like the world’s. It isn’t on the rise one day and in a slump the next.
God’s economy is always the same and it always works perfectly.
God’s Word says if you plant a good (God kind of) seed in good soil, and water it properly, you’re going to have growth. Period!

So, if you find yourself in need, don’t get frustrated, don’t fret, and don’t get in a panic. Turn to God’s way of doing things and plant a Godly seed!

That seed may take the form of money, talents, time or some other resource you have to give. But no matter what form it takes, make sure you plant it in faith and give life to it by speaking God’s Word over it and surrounding it with praise and worship.

Pray over that seed. Fill it with faith, worship and the Word. Then plant it. You can rest assured—it will grow up and become greater!

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55:10-11
“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

MY PRAYER…
O Precious Father, I know my heart can be deceitful. At times I even fool myself. “Lord, as I bring You my worldly things, I bring myself. I give myself to You—spirit, soul and body.” Lord take these seeds that I have sown and apply your Kingdom rules to them. Cause them to sprout and grow and produce fruit, some 30, some 60, and some 100 percent that I may have seed for sowing and food to eat.
Amen

To Tithe or not To Tithe, that is NOT a question!

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, (Your Local Church where you are pastored and cared for.)
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven (one translation says floodgates of heaven)
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the LORD of hosts;

Malachi 3:10-11 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
To Tithe or not To Tithe, that is NOT a question. The scripture is very clear about what we are to do. And don’t use the excuse “That’s Old Testament, it doesn’t apply today.” Wrong answer – God never changes! And there are plenty enough verses in the “New Testament” to verify tithing is still for today!
Tithing, you mean we’re really supposed to do that? No, We GET to do that, we have a choice. God won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. But, if you’re not tithing you are NOT doing God’s Word, if you are not doing God’s Word you can NOT expect to get anything from Him. And in fact, God said “You are cursed with a curse!” Tithing should always be done with a willing heart and cheerful heart, not because you have to. What is a tithe you ask? It is a tenth or 10% of your first fruits. In other words to make it easy for, when you get your check the first thing you should do is put aside your tithe. It’s easy, take the check amount, let’s say it is $1,534.20 your tithe is 10% of that. Just pick up the decimal point and move it one place to the left, $153.42 that’s your tithe and that is supposed to come out first for God before you do anything else with the money, it is His. See “God’s Financial Plan For Mankind” By Donald L. Kielley Jr. God even says to test or prove Him by bringing your tithes into His storehouse (your local church where you are a member and are pastored. You are a member of a local church somewhere right? That’s in His word also!) and see if He won’t open the windows of heaven and pour out more blessings than you can contain. The Hebrew word translated here as windows (‘arubbah) could also have been translated as a sluice gate (an opening for water or better yet a dam). He wants to flood you with blessings…will you let Him? And that’s not all, He says He’ll rebuke the devourer for our sakes and all we do will prosper. Is the devourer eating up your income? You have a choice, Life or death, Blessings or curse…Tithe or not to tithe. God even helps with the choice, in Deuteronomy 30 verse 19, He tells us to choose life!
I chose the Blessings!

MY PRAYER…
Father, help us to understand your plan. Help us to see how the Kingdom of God works. Open our spiritual eyes and show us Your ways. Lord help us to obey Your Word, help us to reap the blessings You have promised for obedience. Help us to reap the blessings and prosperity You have commanded us to have.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

Are you robbing from God?

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me! But you say, In What way have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Malachi 3:8-9 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Are you robbing God? What happened to your tithing, why did it stop? Are you giving tithes (plus additional offerings) through the church you attend? Or do you even believe in tithing, or have you stopped giving tithes because you were offended, or because you don’t think you can afford to give with all the price increases lately and the recession and all? Let me tell you something you may not know. God is not asking you for something that is not His already. The tithe, a tenth of your first fruits, is His period! Everything we are and everything we have belongs to God. If it were not for Him we would not/could not take our next breath! God even gives us our ability to get wealth. All He asks is that we give 1/10th of our first fruit (what is rightfully His anyway) and an additional offering occasionally. We give this tithe to God (through His commandment) through our local church (the church where you are pastored and cared for) for use in the Kingdom ministry. It doesn’t matter what that church or minister then does with the money, that’s between him and God. The IRS takes up to 28% or more, and we would dare deny God His 10%? Notice what God says will happen to you if you rob Him (if you do not tithe and give extra offerings). You are cursed with a curse. Need a description of those curses…try Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (Old Testament) for a rather thorough listing. Some of you are testing God – you have stopped tithing (God knows who you are!). Be careful, God will not be tested or mocked! If you are not tithing you are cursed with a curse!. I didn’t say that, God did in His Word!

MY PRAYER…
Father, help us to see the revelation of Your Word. Open our spiritual eyes and show us the wisdom and knowledge You have hidden in Your Word. Lord work within our hearts Your Word so that we have the ability to do Your Word. Lord help us to obey Your Word that we will not have to suffer the curses of disobedience, but will be blessed with more than we can contain. That we may be a blessing to others.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

Search me, O God, lead me in the way everlasting!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and He is all knowing. He knows the condition of our hearts even better than we do. God knows us inside and out. We can’t pretend we are something we are not with Him. We can’t hide behind a facade and pretend to be something else, He knows us! He sees all we do and hears all we say. He even knows our thoughts before we speak them. This should liberate us to be able to have real intimacy with Him, but instead most of us run from such a close relationship with God. If our desire, however, is to become more like Him, the only way to be transformed into His likeness is by inviting Him in and allowing “Him to look at our heart, our motivations, and our desires, all of it, not just some. He desires our close , intimate, fellowship most of all. He wants to renew your heart, mind and soul to a point where you think, feel, and desire the things He does.

MY PRAYER…
Father, I know You are the one who “searches hearts and minds” yet because of the grace You demonstrated in Jesus, I am confident that You love me. My heart is sorry for the sin I have committed, and I truly am ready to change. But I need Your help and Your power working in me to affect that change. I of myself can do nothing. I am really trying to serve You in honor and purity. Please fill me afresh today with Your Holy Spirit to enable me to become more like Christ. Father, search my heart and purge that which is not of You. In the name of Your Holy Son, Jesus I pray.
Amen

Are you Christian or just religious?

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Christianity is not religion when practiced correctly – religion is being like the Pharisees and Sadducees of old, or Roman Catholics today. Christianity is being Christ-Like and Christ-centered in everything you do. A lot of different religious groups will give you all sorts of ways to know whether or not you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus has one simple answer: “by their fruit you will know them.” Paul gives us the definition of Holy fruit, of being filled with and letting the Holy Spirit live in and guide your life. Say them out loud and ask the Lord to make it true in you: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL. Notice which one is first! Do you walk in them daily? All of them? Let the Holy Spirit come and live in you and guide you daily. He will bring them to pass in your life. You can say you are Christian because you go to church every Sunday, but just like standing in a McDonalds won’t make you a hamburger neither will just going to church. You MUST have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ! He must be your Lord and you must walk the talk also.

MY PRAYER…
Abba Father, in the name of Jesus I call upon You. Please help me to fulfill in myself the character You possess and desire for me to possess. I want to exhibit the qualities of Your Son, Jesus in my daily life. I want Your Holy Spirit to fill me and dwell, abide, make His permanent home in me, that I might allow Him to lead, guide, and teach me all the days of my life. That my fruit would bear forth and be a witness of Your indwelling presence in my life. Most of all, Lord that I be filled with and walk in the same love for people that You do.
Through Jesus’ name I pray.
Amen

Are you fulfilling your call?

Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
Romans 1:5-6 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
For our obedience to faith in Jesus we have been given grace and apostleship among the nations in His name. Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (The Good News), making disciples of all men. We are not to be preaching doctrines of men or church doctrine/history! We are to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us. Sounds like apostleship to me. And because of our faith in Him, He, Jesus, has called us to do this. Not just certain people, but ALL BELIEVERS are called to do this. Are you fulfilling your call? Have you answered the call? Jesus says in His Word, (Matt. 20:16 KJV) “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.” The chosen ones are those who answer the call and do what Jesus says to do!

MY PRAYER…
Father, I thank You for Your grace. I thank You Father, that You have called us who believe to be apostles unto the nations. That You have placed Your grace and Your seal on that calling. Father, I ask You to help me to increase in faith, to increase in the things of You and most of all Father, I ask You to help me to decrease. To remove from me those things that are not of You, to make room for more of You and Your love and compassion for your people. Father, I pray that everyone who is reading this will fall on their face before You and call out to You and re-dedicate themselves to You. That they will accept Your call and become part of the “Chosen” ones. In Jesus’ name, I pray and ask this.
Amen

Yesterday is gone, finished, past, over, and forgotten let it go!

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:18-19 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S MANNA:
You can not change what happened yesterday. Yesterday is gone, finished, past, over, and forgotten. We cannot reclaim it or undo it. We cannot rest on the things it has brought us. When tomorrow dawns, it will be another day, a new opportunity, and the time to once again show forth our faith in Jesus as Lord. Let’s journey forward, knowing that God already inhabits the future just like He does the present and just like He did the past. He promises to provide us refreshment, and rest in Him. God makes a way where we don’t seem to see one, but if we trust in Him and rely on Him through faith and seek to do His will, He will always keep His Word to us. God gift of salvation was given to ALL mankind. Will you receive it?

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord of all eternity, please help me to learn from my mistakes but not to dwell on them. Please help me not to rest on my own accomplishments in the past, but to use them to further Your work in me and through me. Please help me not quarrel with those who may have injured me yesterday, or last month. Instead, Father, lead me in Your paths and help me see Your mighty works in this coming year. Father, help me to trust in You for all things and in all ways. In Jesus name and by the power of His Holy Spirit, I ask it.
Amen

God’s Grace for Salvation has been given to ALL men(mankind)!

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Titus 2:11-13 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S MANNA:
In a world that has no absolutes, in a world that has day by day declining moral and ethical standards. In a world where men with men and women with women is supposed to be okay according to the world, but according to God’s Word it is an abomination (EVIL) unto Him In a world where justice is a thing of the past and crime runs rampant even to the killing of police officers just for the sake of doing it, salvation by the costly grace of God beckons us to change our lifestyle in response to God’s grace. Anyone who receives the grace of God and refuses to pursue righteousness only demonstrates his or her ignorance of the Word and Grace of God or just their plain evil hardness of heart. And by their fruit are showing that they really haven’t received the Grace of God. Notice also that in the verse cited above, God’s Grace for Salvation has been given to ALL men (All of mankind). But not all have received it! In our day and time, to be saved means we must also pursue righteousness — not so that we may earn our salvation, since salvation is the gift of God and not of works, but so that God’s saving grace, freely given to ALL mankind, will not be in vain. Looking to Jesus who HAS (past tense) redeemed us with His precious blood and making Him the Lord of our life. Putting away old ways and habits.

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Holy Father, I confess that I live in a confusing time. Satan is always distorting the distinction between right and wrong, good and evil, moral and immoral. He is forever trying to lie and deceive us, sometimes even using scripture that he has slightly altered. Because You have been so gracious with me, may my life today reflect the righteousness You gave me through Jesus. May the words from my mouth and the thoughts of my heart, be pleasing in Your sight, my Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer. Through Jesus, my redeeming sacrifice I pray.
Amen

Who’s Word is supposed to dwell in you?

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S MANNA:
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, not the word of the world or the daily sitcom on TV, or the hard rock or heavy metal music! Not the nightly news from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, ESPN, CBC, MTV, or the BBC. You say, “Well it’s just a movie.” I know, I’ve been there, done that, wore the “T” shirt! But, what you must realize is that movie or news is planting seed in your heart that is not of God and is filling you with un-Godly things! Your heart, your spirit man, receives it’s input through the eyes, the ears, and mouth by what we see, hear, and speak! So, we need to be full of His Word, the Word of God. How else will we be able to teach one another or correct, warn or caution each other about bad spiritual habits. We need the wisdom of God which can only be obtained through an intimate fellowship with Christ and His Word on a daily basis. When we are full of His Word then our praise and spiritual songs will flow from the fullness of our hearts. When we are full of His Word our faith will show it!

MY PRAYER FOR TODAY:
I am so thankful today, Lord, for all the many blessings You have poured into my life. Your love, Your grace, Your mercy, and Your forgiveness give me hope for the future. Your gift of Jesus gives me life today and promises life eternal with You. The incredible physical blessings, as well as the blessings of family and friends, are wonderful. You have also given me all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Blessings that can only be understood through fellowship with You and Your Word. But the greatest of all blessings is the assurance that I will one day see You face- to-face and share Your glorious presence forever.
In Jesus name Lord I give You all Glory and Honor forever.
Amen