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Faithful Decisions – Part 1

To make faithful decisions is to make right decisions—decisions that are righteous in the eyes of God. 

“As for God, his way is perfect, says 2 Samuel 22:31 NIV, The Lord’s word is flawless…”

He sets the standard of righteousness, and He credits our active faith (obedience) as righteousness (Ge 15:6, Ro 4:9, De 6:25).

So, we are to “walk in the way of that faith,” dependent on God’s truth as we make right decisions (Ro 4:12 AMPC).

Why is this so important?

Because to bring honor to God and be victorious in the Promised Land, we must know His instructions and agree with them. We must sync with Him in life-union to sustain His flow of true life through us, as we progress and complete divine assignments with Him (2 Co 5:21).

2 Samuel 22:26 NIV tells us that “To the faithful,” God shows Himself “faithful.”

“If you choose to follow good counsel, divine design will watch over you and understanding will protect you from making poor choices” (Pr 2:11 TPT).

Keep in mind that, in the Promised Land, God gave Joshua a new strategy for each battle. Joshua and his army were protected as they overtook enemies to expand their territory only because they faithfully hearkened to God’s instructions.

Of course, Moses’ mentorship helped. 

Romans 10:8 TPT says, “But the faith-righteousness we receive speaks to us in these words of Moses: ‘God’s living message is very close to you, as close as your own heart beating in your chest and as near as the tongue in your mouth.’”

Sometimes, the most righteous and life-sustaining thing we can do is lay down our self-righteousness, including our self-justification of our ways, and trust God enough to pray according to His will, so He will hear our prayers (1 Jn 5:14).

We need His grace to work on our behalf. Therefore, we must come out of self-reliance and into God-dependence. We must also remember that God’s perfect justice constantly works on our behalf. 

This perfect justice is described in Romans 3:25 TPT, which says, “the perfect demonstration of God’s justice” is “faith in the sacred blood of Jesus.”

So, before we step onto the Promised Land battlefields, we may want to survey our hearts and ask whether our faith is in Him or in ourselves. We may even want to ask Him to search our hearts. 

Remember that Caleb, who fought alongside Joshua, was wholehearted.

As we continue to believe God’s truth and abide in Him, we will come to know our Lord as the God of the Mountaintop, victorious in new ways to us.

Psalm 31:19 NIV tells us that abiding with Him in our decisions is where we find God’s abundance of good things.

So, we can intentionally choose to receive the abundance of Christ by aligning with Him as Lord of our lives.

Psalm 72:7 TPT assures us that “In the days of his reign the righteous will spring forth with the abundance of peace and prosperity forevermore.”

God will even reward our faithfulness.

Psalm 37:6 NIV says, “He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”

His grace of salvation for us includes the righteousness of vindication and working out that salvation in us and through us to reflect His brightness (Is 62:1).

So, friends, we can be encouraged that, by His grace, all the restoration God did in us up until now will lead to outward manifestations of significant purpose. Therefore, let’s make decisions that are right in God’s eyes to see them produce good fruit. 

Others are depending on us. So, let’s not disappoint them—not the ones in the great cloud of witnesses, who have gone before us and are watching; not those who are still living on earth and waiting; and not the future generations to come. 

Ephesians 3:20 TPT reminds us to “Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination! He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you.”

So, friends, from the Word of The Lord, I declare over you: 

“Open the gates and let a righteous, faith-filled people enter in” (Is 26:2 TPT).

“May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness” (Psalms 72:3 NIV).

“Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name” (Ps 97:12 NKJV).

In Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen. 

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

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Faith Believing

This Thursday, May 13, 2021, marks Ascension Day—the fortieth day from Jesus’ resurrection, when He ascended to Heaven to be seated at the right hand of our Heavenly Father (Lk 22:69). 

Although many scriptures describe what this means for us, my favorite illustration is found in Isaiah 25:6-12 of the TPT version, which is subtitled “The Rich Feast of the Lord.” It says: 

The Lord Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, will host a rich feast on this mountain for all peoples—a feast with plenty of meat and well-aged wine, with an abundance of food and the finest of wine. And on this mountain, he will destroy the shroud wrapped around all the people, the veil spread over all nations. It is the gloom of death! He will swallow it up in victory forever! And God, Lord Yahweh, will wipe away every tear from every face. He will remove every trace of disgrace that his people have suffered throughout the world, for the Lord Yahweh has promised it! In that day they will say, ‘Behold! This is our God! We’ve waited for him, and he saved us! This one, the Lord Yahweh—he is worth the wait! We will keep shouting with joy as we find our bliss in his salvation-kiss!’

The mighty, gracious hand of the Lord Yahweh will rest upon this mountain, but the Moabites will be trampled under his feet as straw gets trampled into the manure. They will stretch out their arms in it like a swimmer stretches out his arms to swim, yet God will bring down their pride, and they will thrash and sink despite their struggle. He will tear down the high walls of Moab’s fortresses and flatten them into the dust.

So, friends, in these verses, we see what is available to us as we live an ascended life with Jesus, which is in the true high place, where our enemies become our footstool and we rise above pain to a protective place, full of provision. Believing this, we can apprehend it in our lives on earth, as our eyes are fixed on Him, no matter what. 

It’s the abundant life of God revealed to us in John 10:10 above the enemy’s false parallel to kill, steal and destroy.

It’s the goodness of God revealed in Philippians 4:19 AMPC, which says, “And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

It’s where we can “be supernaturally infused with strength through” our “life-union with the Lord Jesus,” according to Ephesians 6:10 TPT. Where we can “stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through” us.  

It’s the place of true power and authority, where we can remain as God releases judgment on unrepentant evildoers—both on the person and on the spirit behind the person, according to Isaiah 24:21 TPT.

This begs the question: Since we determine where we are seated—the mountaintop or the pit—by our behavior, as seen through grace, do we have the active faith that is required to gain and sustain rich mountaintop abundance? 

The answer is that we do if we are patiently obedient—if we continue to choose to be faithful to God’s instructions—all the way through the tribulation of the climb to completion.

Our Lord as salvation will protect us inwardly and outwardly along the way (Is 26:1).

Isaiah 26:2-3 describe this journey of victory by saying, “Open the gates and let a righteous, faith-filled people enter in. Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations are consumed with you; they confidently trust in you.”

We can also find encouragement in 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 NIV, which say, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

So, our living faith (with works) pleases God and brings honor to Him. Isaiah 1:17 TPT reminds us to “Learn what it means to do what is good by seeking righteousness and justice! Rescue the oppressed. Uphold the rights of the fatherless and defend the widow’s cause.”

Our behavior—meaning our faithful obedience and works—sets the standard and expectation by which we will be judged by God (Ro 2:6, 9, 16). So, let’s not take the “riches of his extraordinary kindness…for granted” but choose His higher ways above our limited ways.

Let’s keep believing for God’s best and behave accordingly. It’s easier when we remain in worship to Him alone—in His Word, in prayer and in praise. It’s easier when we embrace His vision as our own.

So, pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for Your very best for me. Help me to receive it by Your grace. Don’t let me stray from your clear path of victory. Help me. Keep me on track. Help me be a doer of Your Word—all the way to and on top of the mountain (Ro 2:13, Ps 72:3). Open my eyes to see more of Your goodness and Your ways. Help me to be faithful to You, Lord, above all else. You alone are my King.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen.

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

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Faithful Harvest – Part 2

It’s harvesttime. And God is completing promises to us as He enables us to do the work before us. 

Hebrews 12:11 NIV reminds us that “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

The word “righteousness” here means divine approval of character or actions (Strong’s #1343). And we know this perfect nature to be found in and through Christ.

In Part 1 of this series, we saw that Ruth—in her faithful expressions of generous heart and enduring work—gleaned and gathered her way to a better life forward. 

In this we are reminded that “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride” (Ec 7:8 NIV).

Ruth humbled herself, completed the work at hand and came out as pure gold. 

So, how do we do the work before us in a way that is approved by God? And how do we not become weary in well doing during this harvesttime (Ga 6:9)?

As we remain in intimacy with God and keep right priorities, never putting tasks before Him, He will guide our path and equip and empower us by His great grace to complete them (He 6:15).

So, keeping right priorities honors God, keeps us energized and brings rewards.

Very recently, during quiet time, Holy Spirit reminded me that our victory depends on Him in this way and that the spirit of defeat will try to reverse the priority to exhaust us and make our efforts inefficient. 

Matthew 6:33 TPT reminds us by saying, “So above all, constantly seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness, then all these less important things will be given to you abundantly.”

Intimate time with God is greatly beneficial. It’s where we realize we are not alone. It’s where we open ourselves up to receive more of God’s beauty. It’s where He nurtures us and warms our hearts to move in His ease of grace for duty. It’s where perfect love casts out fear and makes a way. It’s where God aligns us for our assignment by helping us see His greater vision for greater victory. It’s where we gain insight to do tasks more efficiently. 

When we keep God’s order, we gain access to greater clarity.

God will sometimes specifically draw us to come away with Him to refresh us just before an important assignment. A wilderness experience is an extended stay experience to strengthen us little-by-little for the big assignment ahead in the Promised Land. Daily, we should be encountering Him as the Spirit of Grace, sufficient to help us complete tasks. 

When we feel like we don’t have time to invest one-on-one with God, it may be due to fear that we won’t be able to accomplish them. But this fear is linked with self-reliance and unbelief. Instead, we can choose to believe God’s truth which is that, when we make time with Him a first priority, we open ourselves to receive whatever we need from Him to complete the job before us that day. 

God’s grace is empowerment, a Holy ease. He will show us how to best accomplish it, so we can face it ready and able. 

So, invest time in the priority that empowers you, not drains you (Ep 6:10). Act in faith, not the false energy of anxiety. Feast on God. And believe He will deliver His promises. Believe He will continue to show you your part and help you fulfill purpose alongside Him as you go forth with Him. 

When circumstances feel tough, we can choose to not give up. We can choose to give up more of our ways to God’s and be fueled by His anointing.

We can also keep God’s faithful promises ever before us, knowing that His promise preserves our lives (Ps 119:50).

Pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord,

Thank You that You secure promises by Your grace as we extend our faith in action for it to be so. “May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise” Ps 119:41 NIV. With this in mind, we constantly pray that our God will empower us to live worthy of all that he has invited us to experience. And we pray that by his power all the pleasures of goodness and all works inspired by faith would fill us completely” (2 Th 1:11 TPT). Thank You, Lord, for awakening us to see Your way, agree with You and obey You.

In Jesus’ Mighty Name,

Amen.

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

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Faithful Harvest – Part 1

What have you been believing God to manifest in your life? What desire of your heart? What promise?

A few weeks ago, on Resurrection Sunday, my mother surprised me by handing me a set of antique flatware that was important to my heart. It was her and my father’s first set as a married couple. Yes, they were inexpensive, and some pieces were missing. But its sweet sunflower pattern was like gold to me, because it was the flatware I remember setting the table with when I was a kid on countless evenings, while Mom cooked dinner.

Over the past couple of decades, I wondered where this flatware was. Mom had bought new utensils and thought the old ones had gotten lost. But it kept coming up in my heart, because the matter wasn’t settled for me in my soul. God knew where it was the whole time: in Mom’s attic. And He watched over it all these years until it was passed on to me.

As I looked through the giftbag of flatware Mom handed to me, I saw that some pieces were missing. At some point, she remembered that they had disappeared years ago, during camping trips, after she repurposed the set to our family camper.  

I believe God sometimes highlights moments like this in an effort to illustrate what He’s doing in our lives-at-large, during particular times and seasons. So, for me, this situation goes beyond handing down heirlooms. I believe it’s about faithfully bringing complete restoration of the natural and supernatural inheritances that we hold dear in our hearts.

It’s about regaining what was once lost (or thought to be), and rebuilding to extend legacy—30-, 60- and 100-fold.

It’s about purposed redemption—past, present and future—and the honor of recompense.

In these ways, God faithfully expands His Kingdom from within us to beyond us.

This kind of gathering—or harvest—of what we’ve waited and hoped for involves receiving specific quantities of specific things to further fulfill purpose. 

We find this Biblical harvest precept in 1 Peter 1:9 TPT, which says, “For you are reaping the harvest of your faith—the full salvation promised you—your souls’ victory!

This precept is predicated on Hebrews 4:3 TPT, which says, “For those of us who believe, faith activates the promise and we experience the realm of confident rest!”

So, friends, we can rest in our Lord as we trust Him and move forward with Him during this faith-driven harvesttime, knowing His redemptive ways will prove faithful.

We see this faithful living and purity of heart in Ruth’s life, even after she lost more than half of her husband’s immediate family and before God brought her to Boaz.

Ruth’s story is a reminder of Psalm 126:5-6 NLT, which say, “Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.”

Historically, we are in the midst of Ruth’s harvesttime right now. 

As her story goes, Ruth stepped into her new beginning, her unknown, depending on God in her heart. She experienced God’s rapid increase of manifest blessing through her good work: from 30-fold, as she gleaned barley leftovers behind the harvesters (Ru 2:2, 3, 7). To 60-fold, after Boaz invited her to come closer, where she gathered an ephah (two-thirds of a bushel) (Ru 2:14-17). Then to 100-fold, when she married Boaz and was well-provided for, as she co-owned the fields with him (Ru 3:1, 4:10).

So, Ruth’s kind of harvest required actions of faith, maturity, right timing, increasing quantities and completed work (Ru 2:23). 

Just like in Ruth’s life, as we sync with God, we can experience rapid increase of benefit through the harvest-work He has laid before us until the promises of our faith are made manifest (Jn 17:4). 

By the way, those missing pieces of flatware aren’t missing anymore. The very day Mom handed me my inheritance-gift was also the day Holy Spirit led me to complete the set by finding and ordering the missing pieces online.

And it’s just the beginning.

So, friends, what pieces are missing in your life? What will God shift in your favor to bring a redemptive recompense? What will the two of you faithfully complete as you keep a holy heart and co-labor with Him in His way? 

Pray with me if you will…

Dear Lord, 

Thank You for Your mercy of redemption to restore what was once lost. Thank You for enriching me, by Your grace, for my benefit and that of Your Kingdom. Thank You for bringing me to a place of confident rest to believe for and receive the harvest of my faith as I actively co-labor with you to completion (He 4:3, 1 Pe 1:9). Thank You, Lord, for giving me eyes to see and a heart to obey as I “…keep coming closer and closer to you, Lord Yahweh, for your name is good to me. I’ll keep telling the world of your awesome works, my faithful and glorious God” (Ps 73:28 TPT)!

In Jesus’ Mighty Name.

Amen.

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

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His Plans or Mine? by Guest Writer Carol B. Ghattas

As a natural list maker, I am proud to say I’m very good at making plans. As a Christ follower, I have also worked to make sure my plans are His plans. In over fifty years of the process, I can honestly say it’s still a work in progress.

I think, if most of us go back to our 2020 list of goals or plans, probably 99 percent of us can say they were a bust. 

So, what do we do when our plans go bust? Do we still trust God? Were our plans not His? What happens when God upsets our plans?

After all, didn’t God see that we had great aspirations for 2020? For me, things had been looking up. I was expecting a stellar year in my life, ministry, work, and family.

How could a global pandemic, civil unrest and governments in turmoil really be part of His plan for our good and prosperity?

And what does all this mean in relation to our faith? 

My go-to verse for this situation is a favorite. It’s Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV, which says:  

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

It helps me to think about when this verse was written: Was it during a great time in the lives of the Jewish nation? Hardly. They were a people who had just been taken into exile. Everything they knew and loved, including their most precious Temple, had been destroyed by a pagan nation. They’d been forced to walk from their homeland to a foreign one with a foreign language and gods. So, how could the God who had brought their ancestors into the Promised Land say that He had their good in mind after allowing them to be forced out of it?

I believe the answer lies in the fact that we don’t serve a fast-food God, but one who has the whole of time in His sight.

I believe God is saying, “I’m with you even in the midst of the mess, but you’ve got to trust me over everything else.”

Only when we trust God’s plan over man’s, will we be able to call on Him with the confidence that He hears our prayers. Only then can we see Him in the midst of a pandemic, because we’re looking for Him, not earthly solutions.

So, as we sit longing for more stability and an end to a global pandemic, wondering when life will return to normal, we must remember that…

GOD MUST BE OUR FOCUS and nothing else matters.

As I write this post, I look out my window and see a gentle breeze moving the dried, winter-broken leaves of the trees outside. Maybe you’re feeling like one of those browned leaves, hanging on by a thread to the branch. Yet, anytime we see the leaves move, we know the wind is there…just like His Spirit; and that gives me hope.

How did you feel the breeze blowing in your life in 2020? I encourage you to write it down, so you don’t forget. And remember, the winter may last a while longer, but spring is sure to come.

God is here. He’s not MIA. He never was in 2020, and He won’t be in 2021. He’s got plans. He’s known them from before the beginning of time, and He is working them out. You can see it if you take time to think about it. 

God didn’t leave the Israelites in Babylon forever, but it was more than a fast-food run — seventy years more, to be precise. If you think about your age right now, you may be saying, “I don’t have seventy years to wait!” Well, maybe not, but you do have today to trust Him. That’s all He’s asking.

Friends, keep living in your season of change. That’s what He told the Israelites to do: build houses, have children, seek the good of the land in which you live. That’s all any of us can do.

I choose to trust God and do good, knowing as I do, He will make himself known to me and answer my prayers. He has the same plan for you, and it’s a good one.

So, what will you choose? 

God’s plans are the best, so we can rest in Him.

Grace and Peace to you.

Carol B. Ghattas is a veteran in cross-cultural ministry, a popular author, blogger, and speaker on Islam, missions, and Christian living. She served with her late husband for more than 30 years on mission fields among Muslims. To find out more or connect with Carol, visit her blog at lifeinexile.net.

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