GET IN THE GAME :
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us - Hebrews 12:1, NIV
Is there a desire that you placed on the shelf, so to speak? Have you been sitting on the sidelines of your dream, celebrating everybody else’s victories, content to see the promises come to pass in their lives? It’s good to celebrate with others, but God wants to do something amazing in your life, too. He wants you to be celebrated. You don’t have to sit on the sidelines watching everyone else. You have treasure inside of you.
Think about the promises that God has spoken over you; dreams that He wants you to give birth to. It’s not too late. You’re not too old. It may look impossible, but our God can do the impossible. When you believe, favor is released. When you believe, hidden treasure comes forth. Don’t waste another day sitting on the sidelines of life. It’s time to get back in the game. It’s time to run your race. It’s time to press forward into the promises that God has in store for you!
And remember when we have a problem, we can worry about it, or we can choose to trust God.
GOD BLESSES WHAT YOU TOUCH :
“The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. - Deuteronomy 28:8
Do you remember the story of King Midas and his golden touch? He made a wish that everything he touched would turn into gold, and his wish came to pass. He touched his food, the trees in his garden and his palace, and they all turned into gold! Then, he hugged his daughter whom he loved very much and she immediately turned into a gold statue!
God’s way is better and it has no side effects. He wants to bless everything you touch. The Bible says, “The Lord will command the blessing on you… and in all to which you set your hand…” This means that whatever you touch, whatever you set your hands to, God will command the blessing upon it, be it a person, thing or business. So if you touch your child, he is blessed. If you touch your guitar, anointed music flows forth. If you touch your business, it prospers. When you touch a sick person, he gets healed. When you touch someone who is facing lack, his needs are met.
In the Bible, everything that Jesus touched prospered. He touched the eyes of two blind men and their eyes were opened. (Matthew 9:28–30) He touched the open coffin of a widow’s son, and the young man sat up and began to speak. (Luke 7:12–15) He touched the leper and the leprosy departed. (Mark 1:40–42) Under the old covenant laws, no one was supposed to touch a leper as lepers were considered unclean. If you touched the unclean, you became unclean. But Jesus touched the leper and the unclean became clean!
Everyone whom Jesus touched received a blessing. And because Jesus lives in you by His Spirit, what you touch will be blessed too. He paid the price for you to have this blessing. His loving hands which imparted blessings to so many were nailed to the cross so that today, God can command His blessing on all to which you set your hands!
Thought For The Day :
Because Jesus lives in you by His Spirit, what you touch will be blessed.
STANDING ON NO-CURSE GROUND :
Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. - Genesis 8:4
For 40 days and nights, it rained so hard that the whole world perished, except for Noah and those who were with him in the ark. At the end of 150 days, on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.
In Hebrew, the word “Ararat” means “the curse is reversed”. The waters of judgment receded, causing the ark to rest on the mountains of Ararat, on new ground where the curse is reversed. And it happened on the 17th day of the seventh month on the Feast of Firstfruits — the exact date that Jesus rose from the dead 4,000 years later!
When Christ rose from the dead, we were raised together with Him. (Colossians 2:12). We who are in Christ our true ark stand on resurrection ground where the curse has been reversed (Galatians 3:13), where diseases, poverty and failures have no right to operate!
A church member shared how God delivered him from cervical spondylosis, a medical condition which causes the neck section of the spinal cord to deteriorate. An X-ray taken four to five years back showed that that area of his spinal cord was deteriorating fast. He was in pain and had to take medicine to manage the condition. And whenever he had a relapse, he would get depressed.
During his last relapse, he went to the doctor, trusting God that he was already healed, had another X-ray taken and was given some medication. He took the medication, still believing God that he was healed. The following morning, the pain in his neck was gone and he was able to turn his head. When he finally collected his X-ray results a week later, his doctor actually told him that his spinal cord looked better than the doctor’s own! The doctor was very surprised because patients with this condition usually don’t get better. God had reversed the curse of cervical spondylosis for him!
My friend, as a believer, you are on no-curse ground. You stand in the blessings zone where it is very easy for God’s blessings to rain all over you!
Thought For The Day :
We stand on no-curse ground where diseases, poverty and failures have no right to operate!
DON’T LOOK TO YOUR FAITH, LOOK TO JESUS:
HEBREWS 12:2 - looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...
If you are sick, you must know that you are already healed because of the finished work of Christ. Don’t ask, “Do I have enough faith to be healed? Do I have the right kind of faith to be healed? What if I am lacking in faith?” You are focusing on yourself and your faith, instead of Christ and His finished work.
You should be asking, “Did Jesus take away this sickness? If He did, then He must have done a perfect work.” In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus and His perfect work.
AB Simpson, who lived in the 19th century, wrote an article entitled Himself. In it, he mentioned his exhausted nervous system, and broken-down heart which could have proved fatal any time. So he sought the Lord for healing. God showed him Matthew 8:17, which says that Jesus “Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses”.
AB Simpson said that though he believed that Jesus had borne away his sicknesses, he saw many hindrances which stood between him and his healing. And they all boiled down to one thing—his preoccupation with his faith! He had believed that if only he had the “right” kind of faith, he would receive his healing instantly.
He eventually came to the realization that he had to remove that last hindrance—his focus on his faith—and just rest in the finished work of Christ. That revelation marked his complete recovery from his sicknesses.
When you ask yourself, “Do I have enough faith?” you have already put faith as a hindrance between you and Jesus’ finished work. The more you focus on your faith, the more faith slips away. But if you focus on the finished work of Christ and see God’s grace toward you, God sees that as faith! Without realizing it, faith is there in your heart to believe that you will not die of what Christ Himself has already borne away completely for you, and you will see your miracle manifest!
GET READY TO MOVE
'I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised...' Joshua 1:3 NIV
Can you imagine how Joshua felt stepping into Moses' shoes? He needed assurance, so God told him: (1) 'I will give you every place where you set your foot.' In other words, just step out in faith and claim it. It's yours, if you're willing to walk towards it and take possession. Would it be easy? Would they get there overnight? No, but their confidence came from the words, 'as I promised'. The song goes: 'Standing on the promises that cannot fail; when the howling winds of doubt and fear assail. Standing on the living Word I shall prevail; standing on the promises of God.' (2) 'No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.' (Joshua 1:5 NIV) Will you face criticism? Yes. Will you come under attack? Yes. There were 31 kings, seven nations, and giants the size of telephone poles waiting for them in the Promised Land. But every battle you fight is just an opportunity for God to show Himself strong on your behalf. (3) 'As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.' (Joshua 1:5 NIV) If you're anxious about the future, recall God's faithfulness to you in the past. At the end of his life Joshua wrote: 'Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled...' (Joshua 23:14 NIV) And the God who came through for Joshua, will come through for you.
A GREATER HUMILITY :
Matthew 3:14, "But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"
John the Baptist was overwhelmed that Jesus was asking to be baptized by him. John had already declared himself unworthy to unloose the latchet of the Christ's shoes, and now the Christ was asking him to administer His baptism (Lk. 3:16).
Likewise, we are often overwhelmed by the idea that the Lord could use us. Who are we to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ? It is easy to disqualify ourselves and not fulfill God's instructions. However, Jesus told John that he had to do it to fulfill all righteousness.
As wonderful as it may seem, the Lord has chosen to use us. God's Word could not have been fulfilled without John's cooperation. The Lord works through men.
We can do nothing by ourselves, but the Lord will do nothing by Himself (Jn. 15:5; Eph. 3:20). A lack of understanding this has caused many people to miss God's blessings. They pray and desire God's best, but wait on God to move independent of them. There are things that we must do to fulfill the righteousness of God in our lives.
John was not seeking to exalt himself, but his failure to baptize Jesus would not have been an act of humility. It would have been stupidity. It takes great humility to recognize the call of God on your life and let Him use you.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us - Hebrews 12:1, NIV
Is there a desire that you placed on the shelf, so to speak? Have you been sitting on the sidelines of your dream, celebrating everybody else’s victories, content to see the promises come to pass in their lives? It’s good to celebrate with others, but God wants to do something amazing in your life, too. He wants you to be celebrated. You don’t have to sit on the sidelines watching everyone else. You have treasure inside of you.
Think about the promises that God has spoken over you; dreams that He wants you to give birth to. It’s not too late. You’re not too old. It may look impossible, but our God can do the impossible. When you believe, favor is released. When you believe, hidden treasure comes forth. Don’t waste another day sitting on the sidelines of life. It’s time to get back in the game. It’s time to run your race. It’s time to press forward into the promises that God has in store for you!
And remember when we have a problem, we can worry about it, or we can choose to trust God.
GOD BLESSES WHAT YOU TOUCH :
“The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. - Deuteronomy 28:8
Do you remember the story of King Midas and his golden touch? He made a wish that everything he touched would turn into gold, and his wish came to pass. He touched his food, the trees in his garden and his palace, and they all turned into gold! Then, he hugged his daughter whom he loved very much and she immediately turned into a gold statue!
God’s way is better and it has no side effects. He wants to bless everything you touch. The Bible says, “The Lord will command the blessing on you… and in all to which you set your hand…” This means that whatever you touch, whatever you set your hands to, God will command the blessing upon it, be it a person, thing or business. So if you touch your child, he is blessed. If you touch your guitar, anointed music flows forth. If you touch your business, it prospers. When you touch a sick person, he gets healed. When you touch someone who is facing lack, his needs are met.
In the Bible, everything that Jesus touched prospered. He touched the eyes of two blind men and their eyes were opened. (Matthew 9:28–30) He touched the open coffin of a widow’s son, and the young man sat up and began to speak. (Luke 7:12–15) He touched the leper and the leprosy departed. (Mark 1:40–42) Under the old covenant laws, no one was supposed to touch a leper as lepers were considered unclean. If you touched the unclean, you became unclean. But Jesus touched the leper and the unclean became clean!
Everyone whom Jesus touched received a blessing. And because Jesus lives in you by His Spirit, what you touch will be blessed too. He paid the price for you to have this blessing. His loving hands which imparted blessings to so many were nailed to the cross so that today, God can command His blessing on all to which you set your hands!
Thought For The Day :
Because Jesus lives in you by His Spirit, what you touch will be blessed.
STANDING ON NO-CURSE GROUND :
Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. - Genesis 8:4
For 40 days and nights, it rained so hard that the whole world perished, except for Noah and those who were with him in the ark. At the end of 150 days, on the 17th day of the seventh month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.
In Hebrew, the word “Ararat” means “the curse is reversed”. The waters of judgment receded, causing the ark to rest on the mountains of Ararat, on new ground where the curse is reversed. And it happened on the 17th day of the seventh month on the Feast of Firstfruits — the exact date that Jesus rose from the dead 4,000 years later!
When Christ rose from the dead, we were raised together with Him. (Colossians 2:12). We who are in Christ our true ark stand on resurrection ground where the curse has been reversed (Galatians 3:13), where diseases, poverty and failures have no right to operate!
A church member shared how God delivered him from cervical spondylosis, a medical condition which causes the neck section of the spinal cord to deteriorate. An X-ray taken four to five years back showed that that area of his spinal cord was deteriorating fast. He was in pain and had to take medicine to manage the condition. And whenever he had a relapse, he would get depressed.
During his last relapse, he went to the doctor, trusting God that he was already healed, had another X-ray taken and was given some medication. He took the medication, still believing God that he was healed. The following morning, the pain in his neck was gone and he was able to turn his head. When he finally collected his X-ray results a week later, his doctor actually told him that his spinal cord looked better than the doctor’s own! The doctor was very surprised because patients with this condition usually don’t get better. God had reversed the curse of cervical spondylosis for him!
My friend, as a believer, you are on no-curse ground. You stand in the blessings zone where it is very easy for God’s blessings to rain all over you!
Thought For The Day :
We stand on no-curse ground where diseases, poverty and failures have no right to operate!
DON’T LOOK TO YOUR FAITH, LOOK TO JESUS:
HEBREWS 12:2 - looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...
If you are sick, you must know that you are already healed because of the finished work of Christ. Don’t ask, “Do I have enough faith to be healed? Do I have the right kind of faith to be healed? What if I am lacking in faith?” You are focusing on yourself and your faith, instead of Christ and His finished work.
You should be asking, “Did Jesus take away this sickness? If He did, then He must have done a perfect work.” In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus and His perfect work.
AB Simpson, who lived in the 19th century, wrote an article entitled Himself. In it, he mentioned his exhausted nervous system, and broken-down heart which could have proved fatal any time. So he sought the Lord for healing. God showed him Matthew 8:17, which says that Jesus “Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses”.
AB Simpson said that though he believed that Jesus had borne away his sicknesses, he saw many hindrances which stood between him and his healing. And they all boiled down to one thing—his preoccupation with his faith! He had believed that if only he had the “right” kind of faith, he would receive his healing instantly.
He eventually came to the realization that he had to remove that last hindrance—his focus on his faith—and just rest in the finished work of Christ. That revelation marked his complete recovery from his sicknesses.
When you ask yourself, “Do I have enough faith?” you have already put faith as a hindrance between you and Jesus’ finished work. The more you focus on your faith, the more faith slips away. But if you focus on the finished work of Christ and see God’s grace toward you, God sees that as faith! Without realizing it, faith is there in your heart to believe that you will not die of what Christ Himself has already borne away completely for you, and you will see your miracle manifest!
GET READY TO MOVE
'I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised...' Joshua 1:3 NIV
Can you imagine how Joshua felt stepping into Moses' shoes? He needed assurance, so God told him: (1) 'I will give you every place where you set your foot.' In other words, just step out in faith and claim it. It's yours, if you're willing to walk towards it and take possession. Would it be easy? Would they get there overnight? No, but their confidence came from the words, 'as I promised'. The song goes: 'Standing on the promises that cannot fail; when the howling winds of doubt and fear assail. Standing on the living Word I shall prevail; standing on the promises of God.' (2) 'No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.' (Joshua 1:5 NIV) Will you face criticism? Yes. Will you come under attack? Yes. There were 31 kings, seven nations, and giants the size of telephone poles waiting for them in the Promised Land. But every battle you fight is just an opportunity for God to show Himself strong on your behalf. (3) 'As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.' (Joshua 1:5 NIV) If you're anxious about the future, recall God's faithfulness to you in the past. At the end of his life Joshua wrote: 'Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled...' (Joshua 23:14 NIV) And the God who came through for Joshua, will come through for you.
A GREATER HUMILITY :
Matthew 3:14, "But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?"
John the Baptist was overwhelmed that Jesus was asking to be baptized by him. John had already declared himself unworthy to unloose the latchet of the Christ's shoes, and now the Christ was asking him to administer His baptism (Lk. 3:16).
Likewise, we are often overwhelmed by the idea that the Lord could use us. Who are we to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ? It is easy to disqualify ourselves and not fulfill God's instructions. However, Jesus told John that he had to do it to fulfill all righteousness.
As wonderful as it may seem, the Lord has chosen to use us. God's Word could not have been fulfilled without John's cooperation. The Lord works through men.
We can do nothing by ourselves, but the Lord will do nothing by Himself (Jn. 15:5; Eph. 3:20). A lack of understanding this has caused many people to miss God's blessings. They pray and desire God's best, but wait on God to move independent of them. There are things that we must do to fulfill the righteousness of God in our lives.
John was not seeking to exalt himself, but his failure to baptize Jesus would not have been an act of humility. It would have been stupidity. It takes great humility to recognize the call of God on your life and let Him use you.
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