Category: Video-Devotions

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John 3:16

I love when God shows me a scripture in a fresh way, especially as it pertains to my life or someone close to me. And that’s what happened recently with His foundational gospel scripture, John 3:16. 

I had been driving all night from out-of-state, returning home after a family emergency. When I pulled into my garage and picked up my phone to drop it in my purse, the time on the phone was 3:16 a.m. 

It brought me comfort, because I knew Holy Spirit was reminding me of His simple and profound message of salvation for my father, who had met Him face-to-face just two mornings earlier. 

The Amplified Classic version of John 3:16 says, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”

The Passion Translation study notes say of this verse, “True faith has a number of components: acceptance, embracing something (someone) as truth, union with God and his Word and an inner confidence that God alone is enough.”

The NIV study notes say, “The theme of this summary of the gospel is God’s love made manifest in an infinitely glorious manner.” 

The Word love expressed in John 3:16 is the Greek word, agapao (Strong’s #25), which means “Unconditional love, love by choice and by an act of the will.” It “denotes unconquerable benevolence and undefeatable goodwill.” It “will never seek anything but the highest good for fellow mankind.” It “is a word that exclusively belongs to the Christian community. It is a love virtually unknown to writers outside the NT.”

So, this is the level to which God loves us—unconditional, unconquerable and undefeatable. For me, that morning, it was important to God’s heart that I know that I was loved and not alone and that His love was and is enough for me. In the early darkness, I clung to this truth.

Likewise, in this new season, I believe God’s beloved will experience new moments in which He will express His love for us uniquely. I believe it will be heightened and highlighted as He walks with us through big shifts so we’ll come to know Him, once again, as our more than enough (Matt 28:20).

It may happen during times of pain or loss, such as in my case. Or it may happen during times when God adds to our lives. But in all times, it is gain, as we give thanks. Because, as we know, He Himself as Love is with us (1 Jn 4:8).

When I consider all He has done for me, how can I not celebrate Him? How can I not praise Him for giving my family the gift of 29 extra years with my earthly father when medical experts at one of the top universities in America said it couldn’t and wouldn’t happen?

When I begin to thank Him for my father’s life on earth and what He has done to make a way for him to enter into Heaven and for me to see him again, as a treasure stored up for me, it is more than I can contain. 

When I consider what God has done for me, all I experience is overwhelming gratitude and joy unspeakable (Ps 94:19). Literally. Every. Single. Time. It hits me like a rushing wave that makes me want to fall face down before Him (Ps 116:6).

It lifts me like nothing else and makes me pick up my gait in my race toward God even more. And I want everyone who has lost someone to know this kind of joy unspeakable that is live-giving and life-sustaining (2 Co 1:3-4).

A short time after that morning, Holy Spirit highlighted an affirming scripture. It was 2 Timothy 4:17. The Amplified Classic version says, “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the [Gospel] message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So, I was delivered out of the jaws of the lion.”

I am here to testify that, no matter what storm rolls in, God sees and knows and is there to deliver us from death into His glorious light. This is for those living in Christ here and beyond. 

“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (Jn 3:17 NIV). 

So, as we process through mega shifts in this new wine era, we must remember this simple gospel and know that, by His Word and Spirit, we are loved. When God removes people from our lives and the voice of the enemy comes to lie to us, we must trust in, cling to and rely on God’s true gospel of John 3:16. 

To Him be the glory. 

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

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Record Time

This devo is a bit different in that I don’t normally address this topic. But I have no doubt that many have noticed a wave of passing patriarchs of the faith that seems rather extraordinary.

Some of you have been personally touched by this wave of homegoing as well, because it has extended to husbands and fathers, including my own father’s recent passing. 

I believe one of God’s general purposes for this is to make a way for a new wave of leaders to rise and expand in what God is doing in this hour and forward.

When patriarchs and matriarchs depart from among us, those closest to them, as well as any role-replacements, are able to lead Kingdom expansion.

Biblically speaking, Moses and Joshua are examples.

Joshua’s army took their mission way farther than Moses proved capable. But God, in His kindness, allowed Moses to view the progress from above. 

God is seating many into positions of authority to make Him and their earthly father’s proud.

These are legacy carriers, builders of the Kingdom, inspired by those who have gone before them, and anointed to pioneer dominion miraculously by God.

I, myself, am taken with the rich mercy and great grace of God that allowed my own earthly father to live 29 years longer than medical experts expected. When they considered his afflictions to be 100 percent fatal, God made a way for life.

I’ll never forget the angelic visitation one sweet morning decades ago after I had cried myself to sleep in prayer. It was two weeks before Christmas and a lot was happening otherwise. I felt like if God had taken my father at that time it would have been too much for me.

He sent an angel to hover over me and awaken me to bring comfort, power and a message of intervention.

At that time, my father lived and didn’t die. 

Years later, Holy Spirit spoke to me during a quiet moment, saying my father was a testament to His rich mercy. 

And He was right. Dad was an example of what we all need to receive—the rich mercy of God.

When it was finally time for Dad to go home to Heaven to live with Jesus, he went suddenly. Our Lord gave me clues to forewarn me just beforehand and had me read Psalm 91 over him as he lay in ICU on his final evening. 

Dad was 91-years-old when he passed. 

As I sat on the edge of my bed the morning he entered into his Heavenly home, I thanked God for the extra time and marveled at what a difference 29 years had made: How God had grown me to be much stronger in Him so I could walk through this joyfully. How He had given me a fresh perspective of my father’s new walk in God’s covenant of grace. And how He had enabled me to carry on in legacy.

And oh, how sweet it has been. 

All I want to do is connect with that great joy and the banner over my dad that is “Freedom,” as he strolls into the great expanse of Heaven.

I hope that, if you have also seen loved ones off, that you will do the same. 

Because, like my earthly father, who was a leader and teacher in the commercial construction trade, we have much to build here in record time and with holy purpose to work out.

Think Nehemiah. 

God has divine assignments right before us that we’re about to come into. They will be places to express what He put in our hearts long ago. 

This is an exciting time to work alongside God in His Kingdom. And we can do it knowing that our loved ones are watching from above as God extends life here on earth as it is in Heaven.

Here are some key scriptures to ponder as we lay the past to rest and enter into legacy overdrive . . . 

Psalm 91:14-16 AMPC, which says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness–trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never]. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.”

Job 21:23 AMPC, which says, “One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.”

To God 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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Wisdom Strategies

While seeking The Lord a couple of weeks ago, He revealed to me that He’s releasing freedom through deliverance, as well as detailed wisdom to His beloved to help us with the mega shifts that are happening now and that will extend into the near future. 

These are trajectory re-sets for new beginnings that He desires to bring us into. 

There’s a baton passing that’s about to occur in many people’s lives, if it hasn’t already; and we need to hear from God concerning exit strategies and admission into our new assignments.

On this particular morning, Holy Spirit showed me a string of Word-visions. A key Word that He highlighted repeatedly was “exchange.”

Our Lord, Jesus, has some great exchanges to offer us, and His cross is the great exchange post, where we can lay down all that hinders for full access for which He paid.

It may encourage you to know that a Biblical definition of the Word exchange is recompense, restitution and reward (Strong’s #8545). 

It can also reference “exchanging the truth for a lie” (Vine’s #3337). And, when it does, it’s connected with the concept of atonement (Vine’s #465). 

The ones who take hold of Jesus’ hand and go there will experience the high value He offers—beyond what they ever knew existed. They will come into what they’ve always desired but what seemed to elude them . . . until now.

When we look at the Word exchange, we can clearly see the root word “change.” 

For many, right now, Holy Spirit is knocking on the doors of hearts to gain access to the one, last, core withholding—the pinpointed soul issue(s) that He has been digging for all along—to release His best treasure in their lives. 

Jesus is our Great Exchange, and now is the time for Him to escort us from being bound-up into a fruitful bounty. 

It may help to picture it as the life cycle of His ad-mission into our souls for the re-mission of our sins to be sent out on a whole new mission in life. 

God has new assignments for us that cannot come into place any other way. This includes new, forthcoming covenant connections with whom He is yoking us. 

So, His invitation to repentance is so that we can be co-missioned anew to prove out this new ad-mission (like add-mission).

God is ready to add more of Himself to our mission and touch more hearts. But it requires that we choose to abide and not hide from His Spirit any longer.

It’s time to shift out of the hopelessness of Gideon and into the power of Godliness.

Holy Spirit knows precisely what apprehension each of us has to hand over to Him. He’s waiting for us to say, “You’re right, Lord. Here it is. I give it to You and repent of having made it an idol by withholding it in darkness away from Your light of truth.” He’s waiting for us to finally admit that it has been a reality that we’ve held onto long enough that just doesn’t serve us or His Kingdom well.

It’s time to finally overcome and enter into what is truly His better, far better and best.

My strong, convicting sense on this morning a couple of weeks ago, was and is that when we let Jesus into our ugliest place of fear and unbelief, the terror that has tried to hide the most will have no further hiding place, and Holy Spirit will instantly deliver us with His light of new life in a split second.

And any terror that we feel in the process of deliverance is just trying to hide itself until it’s forced out into the light. 

God knows we can go there with Him, because He has grown us in trusting Him for this pivot. 

And once we take His hand again and invite Him in, we’ll be able to continue to progress with Him to prove out what’s honorable as His Shalom—which is His wholeness, the nothing missing and nothing broken that He truly is.

So, in an atoning type of exchange, Jesus takes our substitutions for Him and disposes of them as far as the east is from the west, to a place of no condemnation (Strong’s #4171, #8545). He takes the altered things in our souls that we lay at the cross before Him and straightens us from the inside out with His loving mercy and grace.

Will you go there with Him? Will you come into this new place He has for you that’s better than you can imagine? Will you say, “Yes, Lord”?

To Him 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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End of Times to Best of Times

Nearly two decades ago, Holy Spirit revealed to me that the years 2024 and 2025 involve special times of grace for mega endings and new beginnings.

When the precise appointed times for these shifts are right, they will happen. And they will be undeniable. They will occur on a personal level and nationally.

Over the years, our Lord has been preparing us in every way, making us ready by growing us in His faith, His truth and His grace to flourish us in the “better” and “far better” things He’s bringing. 

He has been doing it for everyone who has aligned with Him, everyone who has yielded their hearts and actively obeyed. He has fortified us and encouraged us along the way.

Over the past year, especially, Holy Spirit reminded me to be more intentional about keeping my eyes on Him, because He has clarity and understanding that will heal my heart from former adversities, while revealing specific strategies forward. He has highlighted Romans 12:2 to me numerous times as a reminder to step up my fierce focus. And He has instructed me to get my house in order to be ready to move when it’s time.

Just a couple of weeks ago, as I picked up my Bible and looked through the outline of the Book of Judges, Holy Spirit began to speak to me, reminding me of what’s to come and revealing a zoom-in perspective:

He highlighted to me that after Israel’s disobedience came anarchy. Anarchy means disorder, lawlessness and disobedience to authority (Dictionary.com). The root of this word means lack in leadership. So, anarchy is a result of the workings of immoral, foolish leadership. 

Of course, we’ve already seen this occur in our society-at-large and many have pressed into God as a result. 

But what Holy Spirit also revealed to me was that, right in the middle of this mess, we find His heart working to raise up His Gideons who have endured. God is raising up His last as first, His least as best in class, His best at last and His best for last…all into manifest redemption.

In short, God is taking His refined-by-fire ones from the end of times into His best of times. He alone is doing it and with them will come the fresh, new things that God desires to usher into this season. 

I believe this is one purpose for the rapid succession of ready generals of the faith being escorted to their Heavenly homes. And just as God has made a way for these who have gone before us, He will advance those who remain in obedience on earth.

So, like Gideon, as we lay down any unbelief and choose to believe again, as we reach for God as Ruler (our true governing authority) and actively obey Him, He will reveal Himself as Redeemer in and through our lives. He’ll bring us into a fullness of victory that’ll expand like wildfire. 

God requires us to sync with Him, even more, to turn it all around. 

As we process through this last push with Him His way, God will do what we cannot. He’ll provide the help we need through a Deborah and a small army and work miracles in our midst. He’ll re-establish law and order and produce manifest inheritance for us as displays of His goodness of Christ-likeness having been worked out of us. 

And even though we’re seeing some progress now, 2025 is a year of Jubilee, where much more will be added, shifting us into overdrive. In 2025, His Gideons will be set into new positions for exponential outreach. It will be a time where we will begin to see the fruit of the fierce focus He has called us to cultivate right now.

God’s grace will flow through a powerful obedience of heart into joyous, unstoppable, outward impact. There’ll be a sense of it all finally coming together after years of slow, daily growth and re-organization. 

Holy Spirit gave me a Word of encouragement for His Gideons right now, which is this:

“Because you have fought in a right way—My way,” says The Lord of Hosts, “I AM making it right for you. Because you have owned My precepts, you will own all else I AM giving to you. Because you have demonstrated loyal love to Me and My beloved, and even to the enemies that did some good but also harm, I AM putting you on a new path to a covenant connection who will have the right heart and the right expertise. This new governing authority is ready and well-able to work with you to facilitate your success. They will have your best interest at heart. They have been tested and proven and have a heart for Me and the heart of a yielded facilitator to help you soar. Where you felt like you just couldn’t do it before, I saw all of what happened and I AM stepping in to turn it around. No longer will you feel less than or left out. No longer will you be ostracized for what others viewed as shortcomings. No longer will you be their target for misery and fear and greed.” The Lord says, “I AM turning it in your favor. I AM bringing all the fragments from back then into a new whole. I AM putting into place the family, the ministry, the business and the finances. I AM bringing you into the outward re-order. Every resource you need I will provide for you to live the life I have called you to live. And as you continue to obey Me, you will see that, what you thought had escaped your grasp, was truly a conduit to pray forward. This time,” The Lord says, “it will not escape you because it will be My time for you. I will put it firmly in your hands and you shall have it in its fullness,” says The Lord of Hosts.

So, Lord, 

Let it be unto us, according to Your will.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

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

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The Final Push

Many are in a final push for new life. 

God is dealing with the pushback, the resistance that has tried to wear His people out and hold them back for a long time. He’s resetting boundaries and leveling His people up to expand His Kingdom on His earth.

And this can only be accomplished His way. 

The final push brings relief, healing and the new beginning of a new life. And just as it can be in the natural realm of childbirth, so, too, can it be in the spiritual realm.

Pushing in God’s way and time will result in a necessary reset of boundaries that will produce and manifest a greater blessing forward.

So, what is Jesus’ example for pushing? How do we do it without manipulation? How to we push without being pushy?

We know that the good side of pushing involves believing that His Presence is necessary and enough and that He’ll make things right, according to His will and purpose. For us, it involves calling on His Name, finding Him in the midst, reaching for His Spirit of Grace through prayer and knowing His Spirit of Truth in His Word. So, it involves yoking with Him to faithfully work it out.

We know that the bad side of pushing involves unbelief, which encompasses leaning on our own understanding, being flesh-driven and, basically, doing it our way, outside of God’s boundaries. Of course, this means we won’t have His backing or grace-power. Therefore, we can make it worse and harm others in the process. 

One example of good pushing is the woman with the issue of blood (Mk 5:25-34).

She firmly believed, chose life and did what she had to do to meet Jesus where He was without harming anyone. She realized that, as she came near to Him, He would reciprocate. She knew that, as she sought Him, reached for Him and accessed Him intimately, she would receive His perfect power that would restore her. This woman learned, firsthand, that Jesus alone was her answer.

In her story, we see that Jesus didn’t push her away. Instead, He pushed her affliction away. He lifted her burden right in the face of resistance. 

And He did the same for everyone else He restored, whether it be through drawing people near, asking rhetorical questions, enlightening them with parables, speaking commands or otherwise.

The byproduct of such faithful acts is that many are taken aback in awesome wonder, (which is restoration of the fear of God)! 

So, the way of Jesus is a witness to many, as He softens hearts, encourages attitudes and reveals Himself in unique ways. He draws us to Himself to help us push through unrighteousness. And it will be worth it.

In our lives, right now, He’s inviting us and enabling us, by His grace power, to progressively push into the outward blessings He has in store for us, after bringing us through a deep season. 

And like the woman with the issue of blood, these outward blessings may demand some pushing forward amid resistance to experience Jesus joining us in the pushback.

In other words, good pushing requires our obedient faith-action for Jesus to meet us and supply His grace of victory for new life. 

So, in the touchpoint of Jesus, we can’t lose. Promises are fulfilled. And greater peace and joy are the fruit of His strength working in our lives. 

We can discern what’s happening and know what to do as He releases His wise strategies to us, which includes His timing.

We can see this cycle of progression time after time in the victorious lifestyle of Joshua’s army.

To live freely in their Promised Land, they had to push forward with great courage, sharp focus and submitted hearts. It required their continuance of careful obedience in every way from beginning to end. They had to be one with God all the way, requiring teamwork to receive sustained victories.

They had to know what to do and precisely when to do it. They had to hear from God and follow through to apprehend His promises. 

Each time they experienced a win in battle, they gained ground and momentum. Word got around that their God was true and was with them. In this way, they evangelized their enemies!

They came to know, firsthand, that as they honored God, He honored them. They became a tight wheel within a wheel with Him as they advanced in their inherit dominion of heart and land in God.

So, what’s God instructing you to push through? Who are you to push on and when are you to do it? 

Are you pushing with Him or against Him?

Holy Spirit will reveal specific answers to you as you wisely and lovingly seek and obey Him. And if you do it His way, you’ll advance in His Kingdom as His Spirit of Truth and Grace works on your behalf.

So, don’t settle for anything less. 

Choose to expand life by doing it His way. 

To God be the glory. 

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