Category: Video-Devotions

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Problem Solving: Obedience Strategy

One day, I was working around the house and noticed Pastor Rick Warren being interviewed on television. I turned up the volume just in time to hear him make a profound statement.

Pastor Rick described one of the most painful situations of his life and said that friends close to him immediately came to his and his wife’s aid. From this he learned and shared what best helped them in their most devastating moments: The ministry of presence.

Pastor Rick went on to advise viewers that, when people don’t know what to say to those in dire need, say nothing. Just be there and intentionally don’t say anything.

Isn’t this how it is when we meet God’s awesome, tangible Presence? When we experience Him as enough, we are comforted that no one gets our pain like Jesus. And we know that only He can fix it.

To be sure, resolving the impossible requires divine Presence and strategic action.

One beauty people of endurance are developed in is the humility of resolve.

As they are constant in prayer, laying down their issues, their limitations, their impossibilities at the foot of the cross. As they cry out to God and invite His Presence into their circumstances to redeem that which only He can. As they seek Him and find Him in the midst of their worst pain, when nothing else will do. And at the point where they encounter His perfect Glory-Presence, they experience His perfect shalom-peace for what’s needed most.

To function from this glorious place, we must put our hope in God. We and our issues must be submitted to God. This requires trust in God and a love for Him. It’s all a journey of seeing and receiving Jesus in the midst and coming into His higher perspective and ways through experiencing Him. Then, intentionally acting from His Spirit.

Overcoming requires the victorious implementation of God’s strategy—spirit, soul and body, as our entire being chooses life. When battles require our engagement, as led by Holy Spirit, our first place of engagement should be with Him to be empowered and guided. As we hear from Holy Spirit, He will bring us into more of His truth as strategy through revelation and wisdom.

Consider Joshua.

God commanded Joshua to not fear and choose courage for life. God released unique strategies to him for each battle as he needed them. To be victorious, Joshua had to trust God at His Word with his life and the lives of his troops. He had to obey God’s strategies as he executed them in physical battle. Joshua had to keep his heart and mind aligned with God’s promise of victory along the way. There was no room to consider anything less, because seconds do not sustain life in war.

We would do well to learn from Joshua, who was made stronger in God’s character and promises as he obeyed.

So, what battles have you been fighting? Have your strategies been working?

Here are a few points to consider:

Don’t engage in foolishness.

Engaging in wrong spirits, like strife, is a snare. So, don’t take the bait. Stand your ground by remaining in the beautiful, high, glorious place with God and let Him deal with perpetrators.

Get to the root to overcome.

As we dwell in God’s Presence, we can fearlessly to go deep, wherever He shines His light to be restored in our root system and foundation. Doing this will reset our expectations in life for God’s goodness.

Resist the devil and he will flee.

As we submit to God’s authority, the enemy flees (Ja 4:7). Many ugly things will just fall away as we dwell with the beautiful and strong Lord of our lives. The enemy cannot touch us in God’s Holy tabernacle.

Speak up and out.

Speaking up appropriately makes all the difference. Having meditated on God’s truth, praising Him, and declaring His promises over our lives and situations is powerful and helps bring needed change.

So, pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

Thank You for helping me overcome adversity in my life on earth through Your life in me and in Heaven. I invite You to bring resolve in my life and to begin with me. I invite You to reveal to me any issues in me for the purpose of overcoming them. Open my eyes to see Your invitations to Your beauty of life within me and all around. Help me to release wrong things to You and rise with You. Help me to fight fearlessly and strategically with You for Your glory. Thank You for graciously completing Your finished work of the cross in my spirit, soul and body. Help me to receive Your blessed life more fully and live it out abundantly.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Give Away: Challenge To Victory – Part 2

God is calling each of us higher into new levels of victory in Him. To go higher, we must humble ourselves and walk with Him His way in grace by faith.

As we hearken to God in this ongoing process, He reveals Himself, His purposes and His wisdom to enable us to receive His true blessings that are expressions of His victory He freely gives to us.

So, what expressions of His victory have you seen in your life in this season?

Key verses our Lord highlighted to me for this devotion are in Psalm 37, verses 4-6 NIV, which say, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

Friends, we are in a time of great, manifest recompense, of reward and vindication (He 11:6). And these blessings come with warnings: We are to be aware that we don’t deserve them but that they are graciously fulfilled by God’s goodness, not anything we have done. Also, we are not to put any of these blessings before God.

In Part 1 of this series, I shared a detailed prophetic Word based on the redemptive precepts of Amos 9. So, If you haven’t listened to it or read it, I strongly encourage you to do so. And to pray about it for your own lives.

In short, the Word says that God’s beloved will now receive His unconditional blessings as we have turned our hearts back to Him. The consuming fire we once endured will give way to greater, exponential fruitfulness. We will become a great witness to the redemption of God. Those who now value more of what God values, including themselves, will be surrounded by more of what is valuable and purposed.

Here in Part 2, I’m sharing the key strategies our Lord is highlighting in His written Word that supports His revealed Word from Part 1. We’ve already established that God’s mega blessings may come sooner than we expect and that they may include more than we expect or deserve.

Here are some more key strategies to remember:

Ask God for what we need (Ma 7:7-8):

Matthew 7:11 TPT says, “If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?”

John 16:24 TPT tells us that “…now you can ask, and keep on asking him! And you can be sure that you’ll receive what you ask for, and your joy will have no limits!”

Our joy will overflow when we live in truth and love and experience God’s Presence and the fulfillment of His promises (2 Jn 1:4). As we focus on Him and delight in Him, He multiplies His goodness in our lives. Jesus is a finisher! So, when He fulfills promises in our lives, whether spiritual or material, our joy is made complete in Him who finishes what He began.

God will reveal His big blessings to us at His right(eous) time with confirmations:

An important element to any blessing is a new beginning. New beginnings inherently mean that something else has to end. God desires that we be prepared for both. His grace will come off of that which He no longer desires to bless. This is one way He guides and grows us in His trust and clarity.

There are numerous scriptures in regards to why God reveals events in advance to us. His primary purpose being to strengthen us for what’s ahead. You can read these scriptures on Bible.com by searching the phrase “I told you in advance.”

Confirmations will come through His Word (highlighted scriptures and remembrances of Bible stories) and His witnesses and in other ways in which He usually speaks to us.

Expect a foreshadow opportunity:

God may set us up to bless someone else in the same area that He desires to bless us. I can look back in my life and see this truth consistently whenever God was about to establish a big, breakthrough, life-changing blessing in my life.

It’s important to recognize this set-up from a Kingdom perspective. Otherwise, self-pity and/or jealousy can try to hinder us. So, we must exercise Holy Spirit’s fruit of self-control and process through blessing others God’s way. We must remember that He always sets us up for ultimate victory.

And the way we handle His set-up with regards to humility and submission to Him and His ways can affect our outcome. This especially includes how we perceive and treat the person He assigns us to help in advance.

God will bring the connections to work the vision:

As we work what we know our Lord has assigned to us, He will work on our behalves to bring others into the vision to make wise decisions and corresponding actions that cause the vision to manifest and blossom.

These helpers may be people you do not yet know. But they will be like-minded and will work to put action to “the more” God is adding to our lives.

God will converge all the tangible elements into place without us having to overwork, as we trust and follow Him along His timeline. This blessing will prove to be a wonder that expresses and glorifies God from start to finish.

Remember, He blesses the work of our hands and multiplies what we have sown (De 16:15).

Keep our eyes on God and His beautiful vision for us:

This keeps us balanced and focused on what’s most important. God will fulfill His promises as a reflection of His stunning beauty, according to His reward of justice for each individual, as He reigns over it with us alongside Him.

So, let’s magnify His greatness through the journey to honor Him and to remain encouraged, as described in Psalm 27:14 AMP, which says, “Wait for and confidently expect the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.”

Pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

We thank You that “every child” of Yours “overcomes the world, for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world” (1 Jn 5:4 TPT). We thank You for making us “new in the attitude of” our “minds” by Your grace so that we can “put on the new self” to be like You “in true righteousness and holiness” (Ep 4:22-24 NIV). Thank You that, as we “take delight” in You, You “will give” us “the desires of” our hearts. And that, as we “commit your way to” You and “trust in” You, You “will make” our “righteous reward shine like the dawn,” our “vindication like the noonday sun” (Ps 37:4-6 NIV).

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen.

Now, Lord, I declare over all who are willing to receive Your blessings during this season of recompense, Psalm 20:4 AMP, which says, “May He grant you your heart’s desire And fulfill all your plans.”

To You, Lord, be all glory, honor and praise! Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Give Away: Challenge To Victory – Part 1

“What did I do to deserve this?” was the question Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance two weeks ago. He reminded me that, nearly two decades ago, these were my words to Him as He began to lead me through a ten-year, ten-month season of tribulation.

But God didn’t just bring this remembrance to my mind. He also brought a corresponding revelation for right now. In other words, Holy Spirit redefined this now rhetorical question. He was doing a new thing with an old thing.

In a flash of understanding, He revealed the answer to this question for this season to be “nothing,” meaning I have done nothing to deserve the great blessing of His recompense that He is now about to flood into my life.

Holy Spirit helped me to know, beyond a hint of doubt, that His goodness is not based on anything I’ve done—good or bad.

And, friends, this is not just for me.

God loves to give good gifts to His children (Mt 711). His transformed ones are on the cusp of outward multiplicity like they have never experienced. I’m talking about shock, awe and wonder of God’s unconditional blessings beyond what they have never known. I’m talking about the blessings of God that cause them to gasp as our Lord presents His finest, serendipitous, dream-come-true gifts to them in tangible form.

The Word I believe Holy Spirit revealed to me is this…

Painful, undeserved experiences and times are now coming full circle as God continues to deliver His inwardly transformed ones into His manifest goodness of recompense, reward and justice. These gifts will be hundredfold as described in Mark 10:30 and illustrated in the “Book of Ruth.” These blessings will be so over and above what they can think or imagine, they will wonder, “What did I do to deserve this?”

Where they were blindsided by the enemy in past times, and even tried to cover up the ugly parts, God worked the whole time to restore their foundations and erect a holy fortress for them that would prove serendipitous forward. As they continue to walk with Almighty God, they will now be blindsided by His gloriously beautiful and undeserved recompenses for every time they were blindsided by the enemy (Psalm 37:4-6, 61:2-4, 91:1-2).

Where their deeds were once returned on their own heads in the past, the renewed minds of God’s conformed ones can expect to receive a different harvest this time (Ob 1:15). Their deep inward transformation is now producing outward beauty. And some of their best rewards will be unexpected, as God gives them something over and above what they can share with others.

God is completing their mourning-to-dancing and ashes-to-beauty cycles in tangible ways as they continue to walk with Him by faith in His glory. What once felt like a Joshua and Caleb story of battle after battle, our God is giving the dominion of Jericho to them in a physical, manifest way. And it’s just the beginning. God has enabled them to claim victory after victory and will now do it manifestly, as His insight in them comes into physical sight. This is the beginning of His expanse of goodness restored in their lives (Ge 1).

God is giving them the things of old made new with promises that reflect His character and ways, satisfying them in abundance as they have kept their eyes on Him. Examples may be inherited land, restored houses, family members coming home spiritually and physically. God reuniting former things in new form for new beginnings.

It’s time for the beautiful and appropriate blessings of Ecclesiastes 3:11 to begin to manifest. The Amplified version says, “He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end.”

Now is a time where God’s conformed ones will receive a string of profound, life-changing, breakthrough, manifest, unconditional covenant blessings as a result of receiving the overflow of His grace upon grace, as in John 1:16 TPT, which says, “from the overflow of his fullness we received grace heaped upon more grace!”

These blessings will happen “on the heels of the other,” as described in Amos 9:13 MSG. “So fast your head will swim…you won’t be able to keep up.”

As God’s conformed ones find themselves living in the evidence of a state of “only God could have done this,” they will be positioned in new, highlighted roles as witnesses of the goodness, the victory and the glory of The Lord God Almighty.

Friends, it’s not finished until it manifests.

Pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

Thank You for getting Your people unstuck and receiving Your manifest blessings by Your grace of transformation and manifestation. Thank You for Your good gifts that You give to Your children. Thank You for revealing Your true character in the process, by showing us that it’s only by Your grace that You enable us to receive Your beautiful gifts. We, Lord, are eternally grateful beyond what we can adequately describe. Thank You for helping us to remain in You as we continue to walk with You into blessings we cannot contain for Your glory.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

Friends, join me next week for Part 2 of Give Away: Challenge to Victory.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Patient Decisions

Patience is critical to unlocking our destinies and fulfilling our calls. God will release us to move forward as we mature in patience. So, in patience, we find freedom.

Patience is a fruit of The Spirit, not a slow-down or a denial to our heart’s desires. It’s not a waste of time. No, impatience is what causes us to get locked down.

If there is one lesson I have had to learn (and am still growing in) it’s daily patience.

When we love God, we desire to do life His way. And this desire is our fuel to go deeper in trust. When we trust God implicitly by faith, we rest as we grow in the freedom of patience. It also helps us to know that patience will lead us to making right decisions, where we can flow like a river in God’s best. Impatience, on the other hand, provokes us to jump ahead and grab counterfeits out of fear of lack.

God’s truth is that He is enough as our Source of provision. His perfect love casts out fear. His grace is sufficient to help us where we are right now, even if it feels like goals are taking a long time. He is for us and has our best at heart.

In this season, where we’ve learned to put God first, He is opening up His windows of first-rate blessings we cannot contain. Seconds are not an option as we continue to practice our faith walk into manifest fulfillment. This requires the patience of submission so we don’t stop short.

God is leading us in small things to show us the way to go, as He brings us into bigger manifest blessings. He will consistently open our eyes to see and apprehend His best. We must continue to let faith in His Spirit be our guide. There is no reason to fear because, when we walk with Him in His ways, we will ultimately prove victorious for His glory. This, of course, requires belief.

Biblically, I believe Jacob struggled with impatience. I believe it was a big factor in him having to labor for the love of his life, Rebecca, for seven years. God used this labor of love to work the fruit of patience in Jacob. Jacob started out as an immature, selfish grabber. If he had continued along this path, he would have self-destructed. Therefore, patience was necessary for Jacob to survive. God knew Jacob had to come up higher in order to walk out his Divine lineage. God knew that the best way to re-establish Jacob’s foundation was to mature him deeply in patience through long-suffering.

James 1:4 NKJ says, “…let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

So, in long-suffering, we tend to run to God, where He proves Himself faithful to us. We come to know God as our as Provider for all we need (Matt 6:11, Ps 73:26). In this process, we turn our focus on God and come to realize that we don’t have to compete with anyone else for anything else.

We’ve all walked through various types of suffering. Holy scripture makes it clear that no one leaves this earth without going through some trouble. Holy Bible also reveals that God will use it all for good.  

Once we make it through times of testing and trials successfully and prove out a necessary level of patience, we are expected to follow through by making Godly decisions. This is how we receive God’s best outward flow of blessings like a river. Therefore, patience is part of our foundation of hope for making wise decisions.

I believe Paul demonstrated this in his release from jail in Acts 16. I believe that Paul had been prepared through long-suffering and had proven himself mature in patience to the level God required of him at that time. As a result, he was able to wisely choose to praise God and receive manifest release from bondage, rather than allow his soul to lock down in despair.

As Paul handled his circumstances wisely, he didn’t have to suffer long. He had learned what to do and didn’t hesitate to trust God, even though he didn’t know how long his release from jail would take. Paul had nothing else to prove in this regard. He only had to demonstrate the freedom-by-faith that Jesus taught him.

We see this again when Paul shook the snake from his hand shortly before he laid his hands on a man, who received supernatural healing. Paul demonstrated that sufferings didn’t control him. They only prepared him. In his patience, Paul demonstrated clarity above confusion in the crowd of onlookers (Ac 28:5-6). Paul shared a soundbite of wisdom and firmly established, by agreement with God’s way, that there was no room for despair in his life. Paul would not slow down to the counterfeit of self-pity.

In all this, we see that Paul grew to operate in a new trajectory, where he processed quickly. And we can, too. As God continues to bring us into His river of blessing, where much flows rapidly, He will continue to make us ready to process wisely.

Many have passed the patience test and are now in position to receive God’s greater manifest flow of blessings with wisdom, grace and peace. They have come into the clearing and already know, deeply in their souls, what is right. They have grown in the love of God to the point of fearlessness for the level they’re now on. They have already begun to experience and are now demonstrating having gone from lack to luster for God’s glory.

So, Lord, Thank You for getting us fully there. Continue to lead us with Your secret wisdom. May we experience, even more, that following You brings us into Your brightness and glory as we honor You (Ps 73:24). In Jesus’ mighty Name. Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.

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Alert Messages

How is God getting your attention to help you stay on track with your mission this season?

For me, He has highlighted a couple of key relationships and reminded me to remain steady and keep in touch. Both of these relationships embody my past, present and future, symbolically, in different ways. There are key heritage elements to them that God is bringing around again to fulfill Divine purpose.

Acts 20:31 TPT tells us to “be alert and discerning.” To be alert means to be “watchful and ready” (Encarta). To be “clear-headed and responsive.” God’s alerts are intended to strengthen us. Ephesians 6:15 TPT says to “Stand on your feet alert, then you’ll always be ready to share the blessings of peace.”

God knows there is a lot going in our lives. He doesn’t want us to be distracted and miss sudden moments of opportunity for protection and blessing (Mk 13:36). No, He desires we be awake and attentive to His guidance.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 TPT reveals a strategy by saying that we “stay alert and clearheaded by placing the breastplate of faith and love over our hearts, and a helmet of the hope of salvation over our thoughts.”

1 Peter 1:13 TPT affirms this by saying, “…prepare your hearts and minds for action! Stay alert and fix your hope firmly on the marvelous grace that is coming to you. For when Jesus Christ is unveiled, a greater measure of grace will be released to you.”

Not only is Holy Spirit highlighting key relationships, He is also extending grace to grow. He enabled me to see and experience a glimpse of something He forewarned me about recently. I believe He’s building me up to face more of the same just ahead in greater measure.

In these ways, and many others, God protects us and works His new-wine plan to establish right priorities that bless our lives. He knows the stronger we are in Him, the better equipped we will be to follow through with His directives, especially when challenges come.

God desires that we be alert and “overcome every form of evil” (2 Ti 4:5). 1 Peter 5:8 TPT reminds us to “Be well balanced and always alert, because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly, like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour.”

I love that God has a beautiful future for each of us, one to prosper us, not to harm us (Je 29:11). Psalm 112:7 TPT confirms this by saying, “They will not live in fear or dread of what may come, for their hearts are firm, ever secure in their faith.”

I believe that God is making old things new again, especially concerning families and that which is important to them. I believe that, as these family’s souls continue to prosper, they will be lifted into more redeemed settings—a Godlier atmosphere in Spirit and physical form. Many are relocating to places that reflect their heart’s desires. Some are returning to their roots. Others are moving to more peaceful neighborhoods.

Ecclesiastes 5:19 AMP reminds us that “to whom God has given riches and possessions, He has also given the power and ability to enjoy them and to receive [this as] his [allotted] portion and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God [to him].”

I believe God is working to share His beauty of riches with us in many forms to demonstrate and instill His goodness. Also, I’ve noticed that, as we come closer to God, His grace increases and brings it all to fruition (1 Pe 1:13).

This was true of Naomi and Ruth and their new extended family, how God swiftly restored them, in Naomi’s homeland, after suffering loss. It was also true for King Saul’s grandson, Mephibosheth, who was restored to the King’s table through King David. A purposed solidity occurred for these families, a type of permanence and holy establishment.

I believe God is calling us farther into manifest, righteous legacy and is showing us that there is no place like a Heavenly home to be experienced and shared. I believe God is bringing this around to continue to pour out in new ways. And with all this going on, He reminds us to keep His instructions and encourages our preparation by alerting us.

Was there a time in your last season when God specifically instructed you to not look back? He did for me. That’s because He had us heading into a new season we’re now in. So, what do you see as you look around? I see beauty and opportunity. I see new life.

Matthew 7:11 TPT asks us, “…how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?”

Pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

We thank You for all of the ways You alert us to stay on track with You. Help us to continue to walk with You in every way. Help us to not drop anything that’s important to Your heart and plan for us. Help us to “remember to stay alert and hold firmly to all that” we believe (1 Co 16:13). Help us to be “mighty and full of courage.” Help us to be strong in Your Spirit above our flesh (Matt 26:41). Thank You for Your beauty of Spirit and form. Thank You for Your good gifts, even the gift of spoils. Thank You for teaching us the way we should go on the narrow path with You (Ps 32:8). May we experience it and use it for Your glory.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

This devo was graciously re-posted by the Salem Web Network, which includes iBelieve.com.