He's Working of Your Behalf

Today's Scripture:

“We know that God will work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Today's Word:
God is working behind the scenes in your life, today. No matter what you may be facing, no matter what trial you may be going through, God has a plan to turn things around in your favor. Right now, He is working out a plan for your good. Right now, He is orchestrating the right people to come across your path. He is orchestrating the right opportunities to open up to you. You may not see it in the natural, but look with your eyes of faith today.

Keep standing. Keep believing. Keep hoping. Keep following His Word. Focus on His goodness in your life, knowing that He rewards the people who seek after Him. As you meditate on the faithfulness of God and show your love for Him by following His Word, you will see His plan come to pass. You’ll experience His peace and joy. and you will live in victory all the days of your life!

A Prayer for Today:

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your faithfulness in my life. I trust that You are working behind the scenes on my behalf. Give me Your strength and peace today and fill me with Your faith to overcome. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Where is your confidence?

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. (Hebrews 10:35 KJV)

Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. (Hebrews 10:35 AMP)


How many times have you worked diligently with your hands to help someone, maybe even stuck your neck out and covered for someone, gave generously from the little that you had, all to be ostracized and ridiculed by the very people that you thought had your back?

Or what about this--you consistently pay your tithes and offerings, give to local charities, sacrifice time out of your day to lend a listening ear, serve in various capacities--yet the goals, dream, and desires that you have so deep in your heart, still has not come to pass?

Many of your reading may be, right now, in one of these situations.

But while you may be down and out, wondering when your prayer will be answered, the devil is also telling you things that contradict God's promises for your life. See, it's when we take that second thought of doubt, that we stop or delay the harvest that is meant just for us.

I believe many of us have been on the verge of promotion on our jobs--have been given the tasks of training others that come after us, to then be sideswiped by seeing that very same person be elevated to the position we felt we were supposed to get. Why? Because we took the second thought--or we murmured and complained to our friends and co-workers about the problems of the company instead of being the one to see change take place, by being the change (setting the atmosphere for promotion to take place). Also if you are doing your job as unto the Lord, your gifts will make room for you. We as Christians should never be the ones up in a conversation of gossip and slander. We should run away from that, lest we also be seen as fools. The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. (Proverbs 9:13 NIV) And in Proverbs 12:23 NIV, it says, "A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly."

Another thing that is important to point out is just where we should put our confidence. Our confidence should not be just enough to make the status quo in this world--obsessed on the cars, the house, the fine designer clothes and shoes, our outward appearance-what to get to be seen by people or to fit the world's or society's way of doing things. Yes, many of those things are nice, and God does want us to prosper in every area of our lives, and will give us those things when and if He sees fit to bring it to us. However, your confidence should be more on what we should be storing up in heaven--our Heavenly treasures. How do we do that, by sowing consistently into the Kingdom of God. Not just with our monies, but our time, our talents, whatever we can out our hands to work to do.

Our confidence should be built in patience for what God has for us. Remember what God has for you will be just for you. No one will be able to take it away or boast about having any part in it. God will be the one to get all the glory and you can tell everyone how you made it over! Thanks be to God!

Keep putting your hands to the plow, do more than what's expected of you, keep a smile on your face, and display longsuffering towards ones that have despitefully used you--target them and be steady in order to win them to Christ!

When we have that fearless confidence, as the word suggests, we can hold our heads up high, because we already have the victory, even though in the natural, it may look like we are falling apart. We will still be confident-never wavering from our faith that God will continue to provide and that what you sow into the Kingdom, God never forgets and he counts it all toward your ultimate reward. And shouldn't we only want to do what is pleasing to God anyway? Only what we do for Him will last! So be confident, my brothers and sisters. Stand strong and in the power of His might! We will always be victorious, in Jesus Name!

In His Love,

Gotta Have Faith

"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26 KJV




Lately I've seen many people, during this uneven economy all of a sudden want something they can cling to that deals with the word, "FAITH". You see license plates with the word "Faith", people will buy jewelry, plaques, and clothing that has the emblem of "Faith". But do they really honor God with their... Faith?

Faith in the greek is pistos which means believing, assurance, unwavering, not moved. It's the type of faith that no matter what might be in front of you, or what it might apprear to look like in this world, you have the faith that what you have asked God for will come to pass.

However, if you don't act on the faith that you have and wait for something to fall from the sky, it won't happen. You take that first step towards the destiny God has placed within your spirit and watch God take the rest. If what you are passionate about really lines up with God's purpose for you is, you will have the favor you need from God, and favor from man (provision, wealth, business connections, etc.) to do what you couldn't do on your own accord.

In the above scripture, "works" can also be your seed. How many times have we really needed something from God, and because we don't have enough in the natural, we feel that we don't want to give up the little we have for FEAR that we won't have what we need to pay our bills, have food on the table, or clothes for our children? I've certainly been there. But it wasn't until I tapped into the ever present power of God's word, that I started to really get a revelation on some things.

First, I remember reading about when Jesus was with the multitude for three days(Read Mark 8:1-21). It says that He had such compassion for the people because they had had nothing to eat. So he took what my Pastor (Pastor Dollar always calls a two piece fish dinner :) with five loaves of bread that a young lad had in a basket. He told everyone (men, women, and children-could have been around 4,000) to sit down. He took this two piece fish dinner, gave thanks or in the Amplified version- blessed it, brake it and gave it to his disciples to set before the people. Do you know it multipled? Everyone had the chance to eat, and the bible says they were filled. When they took up the remaining meat and elements of the bread, it was enough to fill seven baskets. I'm sure it was pretty hard for that young lad to take seven baskets back home. My God! Hallelujah!

Then in I Kings 17: 10-16, it tells the story of a widow woman in Zarephath who felt that she and her son were on the verge of death with nothing left to eat but a handful of meal and a little oil. But as Elijah was passing through the city, he stopped in and TOLD the widow woman to fetch for him a little to drink. Now at that time, I can tell you she was not looking for anyone to tell her what to do with the little that she had. So she had a little attitude, but did go to fetch him what he wanted. But then in the middle of getting it, he called out to her to also bring him a morsel of bread. I can see her swaying her head around to him, maybe even her hand on her hip as she said, "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat and die. (verse 12, KJV).

That's where we are sometimes. We feel we have to hoard the little that we have, thinking that's all we got. However, how many of us know that God wants us to have more? He said, "I have come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly" (or to the full)--emphasis mine (John 10:10).

So Elijah told her to "Fear Not." You have nothing to fear when you know you have Jesus on your side. Well, the story ultimately goes to where she obeys Elijah, makes a morsel of cake for him first, and brings it to him.

Then he makes a declaration or promise to the widow woman that from now until the Lord sends rain upon the earth, her barrel of meal would not waste, nor shall the cruse of oil fail. She, he and her house ate a many days! That's God!

What we have to do is when we pray, we BELIEVED, we RECEIVED, what we PRAYED, and it shall come to pass---never doubting, never wavering, nothing missing, nothing broken, and never lacking any good thing! It's as if when praying, you already know that as that request comes out of your mouth, you already have it. It's past-tense Faith! Thank You Jesus! I got this thang ya'll! And you need to get this too!

You gotta have faith that moves mountains!

Be blessed my brothers and sisters!

Life Without Fear

This is truly an on time word. If this doesn’t minister to anyone else, that’s ok. Sometimes in life, you go through things and in the going through, you ask God to help you. How many times, though, you petition for God to help you but in the asking, you fear the worst, or doubt that it will happen for you? You know deep inside you trust God to supply all of your needs. But sometimes in the natural, you see that you have more bills than money, or you are days away from eviction, or being reported to the credit bureau for back payments of medical bills. The list can go on and on. So you think to yourself, “How I’m I going to get through this?” This has happened to me more than once. Amen? See some people don’t want to admit their weaknesses. I do and will say them in a heartbeat. Because it’s in the sharing of your weaknesses that God will honor and make those weaknesses, strengths that he can and will use for his glory! Thank you Lord. So anyway, in the process of feeling this way, as years have gone by, God has finally brought me to a place of accepting my weaknesses and giving me more of a peace and increasing faith and trust in God that truly moves mountains. Changes has definitely taken place in my life in a very short amount of time. I am grateful to God for that! So below you will find a devotional from a favorite website of mine that I’m sure you will enjoy.

When you feel that your back is up against the wall, and you feel there’s no hope of ever getting to a place of more than enough, know that when you are in God’s hands, and on His side, you always have more than enough, because if you just ask God what you need, believing, he will do or give it to you! Live Without Fear!

Lily

Life Without Fear

READ Isaiah 51:12-16

“Yet you have forgotten the LORD, your Creator,
the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?
Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
It is gone!”

Isaiah 51:13

Israel was a small nation, one that had been an easy target for larger empires seeking expansion. The Persians overthrew the northern kingdom in the eighth century BC. The Babylonians invaded the southern kingdom and decimated Jerusalem in the sixth century. Egyptian power continued to threaten Israel’s well-being. No wonder she “remained in constant dread of human oppressors.”

Yet the antidote to fear was on Israel’s doorstep, if she would but open the door. However big and powerful her human enemies might have been, God is bigger and more powerful. He is the Creator, “the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth.” Confidence in the face of human threats was available to Israel . . . if she would not forget the Lord. Oh, I suppose that, in principle, Israel remembered the God who had so often saved her. But when it came to daily living, when it came to how Israel felt in real time, she forgot the Lord.

And so do we, much of the time. When we read stories of economic collapse, when our loved ones struggle with seemingly insurmountable burdens, when we hear stories of terror plots, and when we face our own mortality, we can forget the Lord. We forget his faithfulness, his majesty, his power, his mercy. We forget that God is always with us and that nothing can separate us from his love.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: When do you forget the Lord? And when you do, what happens? What helps you to remember God in times of distress?

PRAYER: O Lord, how many times have I forgotten you? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? I shudder to think of the number. It’s not that I stop believing in you or that my theology disappears. But, practically, and especially in my emotions, I forget your presence in my life. Your faithfulness disappears from my consciousness for a while. And I feel afraid . . . afraid of where my life is heading, afraid of how my children will turn out, afraid of missing your blessing . . . you name it. (Indeed, Lord, you can name it!)

Forgive me, Lord, for living as if you weren’t there. Forgive me for the times when I forget you. Help me to live each moment of each day with the sense of your presence. May I claim your promises and stake my life upon them. Even as you never forget me, dear Lord, may I never forget you. Amen.

Mark D. Roberts, as Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, is an advisor and frequent contributor to TheHighCalling.org. A Presbyterian pastor, Mark earned his Ph.D. in New Testament from Harvard University. He has written six books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005).