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"And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet....For this my son...was lost, and is found."
(Luke 15:21-22, 24)
Prove yourself. In today's world, that's what you constantly feel you have to do, right? On the job, among friends, even at home you're always working to win the approval you need. Working to convince those around you that you deserve the salary, the friendship, and even the love they give you.
Is there any escape?
You better believe there is! It's called grace. Unearned and undeserved favor and acceptance. And there's only one place you can find it--in the heart of God Himself.
There's no better picture of God's grace in action than in the story of the prodigal son. Few of us today can really feel the impact of that story like those first Jewish listeners Jesus told it to. You see, by their standards the prodigal son had committed some of the most despicable acts possible. He'd not only taken advantage of his father and spent his inheritance in riotous living, he'd left the nation of Israel and made covenant with a foreigner--a pig farmer! That was as low as you could get.
In their eyes, that boy's rebellion was so serious his father's only recourse was to disown him.
But that's not what this father did! He welcomed his repentant son home with open arms. He offered him grace--unmerited favor--that was based on the father's love rather than the son's performance.
Next time you catch yourself struggling to make up to God for something you've done wrong, working to win His approval, let the story of the prodigal son set you free. Let it remind you that, in spite of your sins, your Father has received you with open arms. He's put a robe of righteousness on your back and His signet ring on your hand. He's put the shoes of sonship on your feet!
Do you feel unworthy of all that? God hasn't based His relationship with you on your worthiness. He's based it on His love for you. You don't have to struggle to prove yourself to Him. As far as He's concerned, you're a proven success.
Scripture Study: Luke 15:11-32
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"Trees have their seasons at certain times of the year when they bring forth fruit; but a Christian is for all seasons."
Tags: A Proven Success
"I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all." (1 Corinthians 14:18)
Few things in the Bible have created more fuss than the issue of speaking in tongues. Churches have split over it. People have been persecuted for doing it. People have even been killed for it.
Who's behind all the trouble? Satan himself. He's so frightened of our ability to pray in tongues that he's continually trying to steal it from us through persecution and strife.
You see, the devil knows (even if we don't) that praying in tongues is the only way you and I can pray beyond what we know. It's the tool God has given us to use to tap into the mind of the Spirit.
When we pray in tongues, we activate the Holy Spirit within us and He begins to teach us and enlighten us. If you want to see an example of what praying in tongues can do, look at the Apostle Paul. He said he prayed in tongues more than anyone in the whole Corinthian church and he was responsible for writing most of the New Testament!
Another example is the first church at Jerusalem. They didn't yet have any of the New Testament to read. They couldn't turn to Ephesians and find out what God's plan was for them.
They just had to pray in tongues until the revelation light of God dawned in their hearts. That's all the equipment they had. So they used it and turned the world upside down.
Some years ago God began directing me to spend an hour a day praying in tongues. After I did it awhile, I began to talk to other Christians who'd been directed to do the same thing. God was speaking to believers all over the world to spend time praying in the Spirit.
If you haven't made a commitment to spend some time each day praying in tongues, make one now. Set aside all the disagreements and confusion the devil has stirred up about it and just say, "Lord, I'm going to do it. I don't care what the devil says. I don't care what any man says. I know You have plans for me that are so good my human mind hasn't even conceived them--things that are beyond what I can ask or think. And by praying in the Spirit, I'm going to receive them."
Don't let the distractions of the devil disturb you. Tap into the mind of God. Speak forth His wisdom. Pray in the Spirit today.
Scripture Study: Isaiah 28:9-12
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"If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent."
Tags: Beyond What You Can Ask Or Think
Never forget the price paid for where you stand today. This was once our resumes....
None of us has had to experience the pain of separation or live with the disgrace and humiliation that comes with not being free. When you cast your vote for who will run our country, never forget your history and keep this bill of sale in mind. When we allow ourselves to forget our not so distant past, then we are destined to repeat these actions in our future. Stand for those who came before us and those who could not stand up for themselves. VOTE!
Tags: Black People Price Paid
"And being not weak in faith, [Abraham] considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God." (Romans 4:19-20)
In the years I've spent living by faith, there's something I've learned to do that helps me receive from God in the toughest of situations. It's something I call stepping over the faith line.
A faith line is what you need when you want God to do the "impossible" in your life. It's what you need when you want to be firm in your faith and yet you keep wavering back and forth between your circumstances and God's promises--believing first one, then the other.
It's what can make you like faithful Abraham. You know, Abraham had natural facts to deal with just like we do. He knew there was no natural way for God's promise to him to come true.
Yet the Word says Abraham considered not his own body. In other words, Abraham ignored the natural evidence around him and believed only God's promise.
Somewhere he stepped across the line of faith.
He made an irreversible decision to go with the Word of God. He made a final commitment. He chose to step past the point of no return. And if you and I are ever going to see God do the impossible in our lives, we're going to have to do the same thing!
How do you draw that faith line?
Begin with the Word. Search the promises of God and purposely believe what He has said, and is saying, about your need. Meditate on those promises until faith rises in your heart.
Then draw the line of faith. Draw it in your mind and heart. Draw it across the floor in your prayer room. Say, "In the presence of God, in the presence of all the angels in this room, and in the devils face, I am stepping across the line of faith. From this moment on, I consider this matter done. From this day forward, I give God the praise and the glory in the Name of Jesus.
From that moment on, speak only as if your miracle has already happened. Turn your back on the problems, on the doubts, and turn your face toward Jesus.
God will do the impossible in your life. Dare to step across the faith line!
Scripture Study: Romans 4:13-21
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"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."
Oswald Chambers
Tags: Step Across Faith Line
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2)
Be not conformed to this world. If you live like the world, you'll be overcome by the world. It's as simple as that. So don't let the world squeeze you into its own mold.
Instead..."be transformed" by the entire renewal of your mind. Overcome the world by having your mind transformed to think like God thinks. In other words, when you see something in the Word, say, "I agree with that. From now on I'm acting on that instead of what I used to think."
For example, when sin calls your name, don't answer. Agree with the Word instead and say, "I'm dead to that, Devil. You can't pull me into it anymore!"
As you do that, you'll find yourself changing. You will find yourself living like a world overcomer!
Scripture Study: Romans 6:1-11
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"God draws, but He draws the willing one." Author: John Chrysostom
Tags: Don't Answer
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
Jesus came to take away sin. Do you realize what that means? It means that God, through the blood of Jesus, has so completely done away with the power of sin that you, as a born-again believer, can live as if it never existed. You can step out from under its shadow once and for all.
Understand now, stepping out from under sin's shadow doesn't guarantee living a sinless life. You still might stumble sometimes and fall into sin. But you have a promise from God, sworn in the blood of Jesus, that says when you confess that sin, He's faithful and just to forgive you of it and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
You don't have to live under the shadow of that sin five seconds if you have sense enough to repent and receive God's forgiveness.
"Oh, but, I just feel so bad about it!"
It doesn't make any difference how you feel about it. Do it by faith. Learn to be quick to repent. Then stand up and laugh in the devil's face.
I remember one time in particular when I was in that spot. I'd missed it something awful, and I was supposed to go preach that night. I felt so guilty that I just told the Lord I wasn't going to go. "Lord, You'll just have to get Yourself another preacher tonight because I'm not going over there to that service."
Suddenly the Spirit spoke up inside me. "Did you confess that sin before Me?"
"Yes, I did."
"Do you account the blood by which you're sanctified as an unholy thing?"
"Oh, dear God, no!" I answered.
"That's what you're standing there doing," He said. "I gave you My Word that when you confess your sin before Me, I would not only forgive you of it, but I'd cleanse it and cast it into a sea of forgetfulness. Now it's not good taste for you to keep bringing it up."
I'm telling you, I dropped the matter right then and marched into that service and preached for two and a half hours on the forgiveness of God!
Don't let feelings of guilt and unworthiness rob you of the power of Jesus' blood. Repent and step out by faith from under the shadow of sin into the mighty light of God's forgiveness today!
Scripture Study: John 1:1-34
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"As in the candle I know there is both light and heat, but put out the candle, and they are both gone."
Author: John Selden
Tags: Out Of The Shadow
An Irishman in a wheel chair entered a restaurant one afternoon and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee. The Irishman looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus sittingover there?" The waitress nodded "yes," so the Irishman told her to give Jesus a cup of coffee on him.
The next patron to come in was an Englishman with a hunched back. He shuffled over to a booth, painfully sat down, and asked the waitress for a cup of hot tea.
He also glanced across the restaurant and asked, "Is that Jesus over there?"
The waitress nodded again, so the Englishman said to give Jesus a cup of hot tea, too.
The third patron to come into the restaurant was a Brotha from the hood on crutches. He hobbled over to a booth, sat down and hollered, "Hey there sweet thang, hook a brotha up ! with a cold glass of RC!" He, too, looked across the restaurant and asked, "Is that God's baby boy over there?" The waitress nodded again, so the Brotha said to hook Jesus up with a cold glass of RC, too.
As Jesus got up to leave, he passed by the Irishman, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed."
The Irishman felt the strength come back into his legs, got up and danced a jig out the door.
Jesus also passed by the Englishman, touched him and said, "For your kindness, you are healed." The Englishman felt his back straightening up, and he rose up his hands, praised the Lord and did a series of back flips out the door.
Then Jesus walked towards the Brotha from the hood. The Brotha jumped up and yelled, "Slow ya role playa, don't touch me, I' m drawin' disability!!!!!"
Tags: Jesus And The Brotha
"Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." (Mark 11:24)
Believing. That's the key to everything in the kingdom of God. It's the way we tap into the very power of Almighty God. Most of us know that. But do we know how to put it into action?
Actually it's so simple, it's startling. It's as simple as saying, "I believe I receive."
Something happens in your spirit when you say those words. I don't understand how, but it does. I don't understand how my digestive system knows what to do when I swallow something, but it does. All I have to do is take a bite of food and it goes to work. I don't have to make it happen. I don't have to feel it happen. It just happens. That's the way the body is made.
In much the same way, when you feed on God's precious promises and "swallow" them into your spirit by saying, "I believe I receive," faith is released. You don't have to make it happen. You don't have to feel it happen. It just happens. The reborn spirit is made that way.
When you constantly say with your mouth, "I believe I receive my healing" or "I believe I receive my financial needs met," and then quote the scriptures that back those things, faith is released to bring power to bear on those needs.
As Dr. Kenneth Hagin says, you need to "keep the switch of faith turned on." And I have discovered that speaking out that phrase, "I believe I receive," is one way to do it. We say it when we pray. We say it when we praise God. We say it when we read the Word.
We especially say it in the face of darkness when it looks like we're not receiving. When everything looks the worst, we say it the loudest. I believe I receive!
Do you want to activate your faith today? Then make these four key words the most important words in your vocabulary. Use them every day. You'll soon discover, just as we did...they work!
Scripture Study: Mark 11:12-24
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"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."
Tags: Four Words That Work
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)
Jesus is the beginning and the ending. He is the Almighty. When He told us that in the Book of Revelation, He wasn't just giving us a general piece of information about Himself. He was giving us a powerful truth we can apply now, today!
Let me show you how. He said He is the beginning. So no matter what challenge or situation you may be facing right now, you need to start with Him. John 1:1 says Jesus is the Word. That means, if you're going to start with Jesus, you're going to start with the Word. Don't do anything until you find out what the Word has to say about it.
Then, stay on the Word. As Colossians 1:23 says, "Continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard."
Continue in the faith. The only way the devil can defeat you is to pressure you into throwing away the Word. Everything he does, every challenge he brings you is intended to make you doubt the Word of God. So don't let go of the Word, no matter what may happen. Settle it with God in prayer and stay with it forever. It is written!
Then end with the Word. Jesus said He was the first and the last. That means the word of your doctor is not the last word. Even the word of your pastor is not the last word. The Word of Jesus is the last Word!
Remember this: You are now what the Word says you are. You can do what the Word says you can do. And you can have what the Word says you can have. Begin to believe that. Begin to say it out loud in faith.
Now shout the victory. Yes, now! You don't have to wait to see the outcome to celebrate. You have Jesus' Word on the matter, so you know beyond any doubt that your breakthrough is coming. Once you've settled yourself on Him, you can be assured that He will have the last word!
Scripture Study: Proverbs 1:1-9
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"Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."
Tags: Make His Word The Last Word
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