How Unmarried Women Should Dress‏

The word of God says to treat older women as mothers and younger women as sisters with all purity. This means if a woman is not a man’s wife, he should see her as a mother or sister. Period. Which also means a woman should dress like a mother or sister, except for her husband. No exceptions. If a woman presents her body sexually to any man other than her husband, it’s like she’s presenting her body to her father or brothers, at best! Incest! Or, she is tempting adultery deliberately. She dresses to transgress. This should not be so.

A Message From God To YOU‏

God is love. Expect to feel love when you come to Him. Loved. Welcomed. Embraced. Cherished. Focused on. This is how God is, who God is. His love is your life and breath and purpose. How does this make you feel right now? Do you believe it? I’ll prove it. You’re reading. Something drew you to me and me to you. I feel compelled to write, and you feel compelled to read. God’s love in me writes to you, and you hear His voice of love calling to you. Love. God loves you right now. I am True Love’s messenger.

The Red Skinned God (A Thanksgiving After Thought)

Yesterday we gave thanks. The early settlers were thankful for the help of the natives. All that has happened with us and them were and are reminders. God has helped us, by His Son, His Spirit, and by sending people into our lives. Every act of help affirms and confirms our purpose. So it was and is with the original help given to the original “Americans.” Those who came to worship God met Him in those they least expected to find Him. But they ignored how He revealed Himself. They thought God had white skin. Not red...or black.

3 keys to LIVING an AMAZING LIFE‏!

I read three keys to living an amazing life: 1) Find an amazing thing to focus on. 2) Clear away everything else. 3) Focus on that amazing thing. These are the words of Leo Babauta, author of “Focus: A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction.” I’m practicing these three keys, and finding them true and powerful. You can to. These words are the amazing thing you’re clearing away everything else to focus on! Even better. Be the amazing thing that someone else is exclusively focusing on. Better still. Exclusively focus on someone you consider amazing! God is amazing! God!!!

How We RESIST SATAN (PART 3)

The key is focus. What you allow to enter and exit your mind. Allow only truth. God’s word defines truth. But how do you know you are “interpreting” God’s word correctly? Your will. Do you want God’s will instead of your own? Put yourself in emotional neutral, and you will know God’s will. But you must want His will alone. What is God’s will for you right now? Love. You should love God supremely and love all people equally. These two things secure God’s will in your life. Resist the contradictions to what you know God’s will to be.

How We RESIST SATAN (PART 2)

Our enemies are spiritual. demons. satan. Thoughts and insinuations and implications and assumptions whose origins are satan and demons. You feel it. Thoughts that put you in a bad mood for no real reason. Like a grudge before the day begins. It’s in the air. War. Meaningless internal and external atmospheric conflict. Someone picks a fight with you at work. Why? You were minding your own business. It feels like you’re being targeted. Sought out for an argument. Like a verbal fight is inevitable. The devil. Resist. Focus. Truth will dispel the cloud over your head. You’ll feel it evaporate. The evaporation is satan fleeing. God promises this if you resist.

How We RESIST SATAN (PART 1)

God commands strength. He is our source. God commands us to use His strength to immovably stand against satan. He supplies us with His own armor—offensive and defensive weapons and protection. Truth overcomes lies. The righteousness of our faith in Christ defeats satan’s accusations. The good news of our peace with God destroys all emotions of opposition. Our invincibility is our faith: we listen only to God; we ignore satan’s deceptions and temptations. Our hope in Christ’s return is victory over hopelessness and distraction. We speak only the truth, according to the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ.

How Do We Know Who To Trust? (Part 3)

The origin and motivation of our words and actions determine whether we rationalize sin. What we do and why we do it. I love my wife. This is genuine. God is the origin. Her happiness is mine. How do i know? Because the truth is obvious, and deception is when it is no longer obvious. For 12 years we’ve been together. Faithful. In sickenss and in health. But before 12 years there were 12 days, 12 minutes. I trusted her then. How and why? We know when a person lives by self centered motivation, the essence of sin. You know.

How Do We Know Who To Trust? (Part 2)

Evil is perverted good. This is why we can rationalize our evil. This is justification of evil intention. Even satan just wanted to be like God, and wanted the same for Eve. The key word in the last sentence is “just.” It assumes that “all we want” is…fill in the blank. "I just want to be sexually fulfilled/happy/etc." We imply that God is holding out on something He could easily give or fulfill. So we justify evil because in it is a perverted good. How do we avoid this? How can we be trustworthy? How do we stop rationalizing sin?

How Do We Know Who To Trust? (Part 1)

The thing about truth is when you hear it, you feel you’ve always known it. Even if it’s the first time you’ve heard it. One such truth is spoken by Jesus: “He who speaks from his own authority seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true. There is nothing false about him.” In other words, we trust unselfish people. When He said it, we feel like we already knew it. So why say it? Because deception is when the obvious is no longer obvious. We know who we can trust.

How to KNOW That GOD IS WITH YOU (PART 1)

Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 
2 Chronicles 15:1-2 NIV

 

You know God is with you in two ways:

1. Your conscious choice.
2. Your perfect success.

You choose to focus your attention on God's omnipresence.  You then welcome and acknowledge His presence, and you feel Him acknowledge and welcome you in response. 

It's like this:

You stand in a crowded party, looking into the crowd from the top of a stair case.  The music plays.  People talk and dance and laugh.  You are not focusing on any one person, and no one person is focusing on you.

Until you do.
Until he does.
Until she does.

You look at him and he looks at you.
You look at her and she looks at you.

You wave and smile.
He waves back and smiles.
She waves back and smiles.

You both have been at the party from the beginning, in the same room, listening to the same music.
But you didn't acknowledge or focus on each other, until now. 

This is how it is with God, always present, always watching.
When you acknowledge the always present gaze of God, you know He at that moment is acknowledging you.

Look at the One who is looking at you.
Wave at Him, and He'll wave back to you. 
(After this, read part 2!  Click HERE!)

How to KNOW that GOD IS WITH YOU (PART 2)

When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did,  Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant.  Genesis 39:3-4

God alone always succeeds.

If a man or woman succeed in everything they do, this can only be so if God is with them.

 

 

• To be successful is contextual.
• Because God was with Joseph, he was perfectly successful as manager.
• David's perfect success came in the context of his role as a soldier.

 

So if God is with a manager, she will perfectly succeed in managing.

If God is with a soldier, he will perfectly succeed in victory.

 

 

It is written,

Trust in the LORD with all of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; in all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.

 

Think about that.

• You are focused on God, and God is focusing on you and all that you do.
• You acknowledge God in all you do; God acknowledges you in all you do.
• You will perfectly succeed in all you do, if God is with you in all you do, .

 

It all starts with us and God.

• If we  deliberately ignore Him, He will deliberately ignore us.
• If we want independence from Him, He will give us what we want:

God will leave us alone.

 

But if we want Him with us, He will be.

It's up to you and me.

 

 

You can know God is with you if you choose to welcome His omnipresence.

You will know He is with you when you succeed in whatever you do.

 

May God be with you.



How It Feels to CONVERSE WITH GOD

"...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit..."  The Apostle Paul

Have you ever had someone try to finish your sentences?  If he doesn't know you well, and if she isn't good at connecting with you, he will be wrong 100% of the time, no matter how many times you correct her.

Have you ever had the rare experience when a good friend finishes your sentences, and gets them right!?  You feel connected.  Understood.  Heard.  Valued.

Have you ever had the even rarer experience of a best friend, not just finishing your sentences correctly, but adding an insight you needed, but didn't know you needed!? 

Perfect connection.  Perfect distinction.

God is our Supreme Friend!
Perfectly understanding us.
Perfectly distinct from us.

If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you experience this wonderful communion through prayer. 

It happens in two ways:
1.  Praying with absolute vulnerability.
2.  Listening for insights in prayer that you know aren't from you.

When you pray, be totally honest with God.  If you do this, you'll experience The Listening Ear of God, as it is written,

"The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth."

You will feel like Someone is giving you His undivided attention, like when a best friend gives you total eye contact with the cell phone turned off, as if you are the only one is his world.

But you must be totally honest with God to experience Him totally listening to you.

As you pray, you'll feel insights coming to you, and expressed through your mouth.  Insights you know aren't your own.  Like when your best friend finishes your sentences, and gives you something fresh and new. 

The fresh new insights are coming from the Spirit of God. 
Listening. 
Conversing. 
With you.

This is How It Feels to CONVERSE WITH GOD!

If you follow Christ, and you've experienced this, share it in the comments box.
If you haven't yet experienced it, try it!  Right now!  After you finish reading, talk to God with perfect honesty.  Then write in the comments box the experience of The Listening Ear of God, and of God's Spirit finishing your sentences.

Your comments will encourage me, as I hope I've encouraged you.

When YOU Enter the Room

What is your theme music? How do people feel when you enter the room? Determine their emotion, the ones you encounter throughout today. You are the image and glory of God, the glory of God’s glory. The least they should feel is awe. An image of God is entering the room! God is love. When you love, you are most like Him. Make people feel divinely loved. There are many ways to do this. The easiest: Listen. Really listen. Give real attention. Be like the God who sees and hears. Make people feel God in you, with you, through you.

PURE ANGER (PART 6)

See water boiling. It takes time. But when the bubbles start, they start. The vapors rise. Pure. Purifying. Water boiling is good, and does good. So does God’s anger. So should your anger. Its fire should make pure the impure, which is good. Anger should be good, and would be good, if it were true. Based on the truth. Slowly arrived at. Clearly arrived at. Fiercely quickly and justly expressed, then over. God wants it to be slow so that it will be pure and true. Not less intense. But as intense as lightning. As quick as lightning. As forgotten as lightning, though justly devastating towards evil. Pure Anger.

PURE ANGER (PART 5)

40 minutes later I hear noise. I make no decision about it’s origin. I go upstairs and find my oldest son playing with toys. I tell him to put his toys away and go to bed because play time is over. He puts them away and gets in bed. 10 minutes later I hear noise. I go and see why. My oldest son is up again…playing with toys. I warn him: If you don’t obey me, I will discipline you. He puts his toys away and goes to bed, or so I thought. 23 minutes later I hear noise. I refuse to make up my mind. I go and see what and why. My oldest son is in the bathroom with my youngest, the one who fears dark hallways. But something is off. My youngest son is smiling. My oldest has a look I’ve seen before, the “I’m up to no good” look. Sure enough, I see a glimpse of something in the bath tub—toys! The toys I told the oldest to put away. Now I feel it. Pure fire. Just anger. I tell the youngest to go to bed, giving him a warning. I take the oldest with me to teach him obedience. The lesson developed slowly, was taught fiercely, and ended quickly. We hugged and talked. It’s over. Like it never happened. In the next post, feel the heat rise.

PURE ANGER (PART 4)

I’m noticing twice in one day that I’m jumping to wrong conclusions, feeling angry about something that’s not even happening. Embarrassed by my wrong thoughts, I’m seeing I have to wait before I decide, asking two questions: What is happening? Why is it happening? I can accept the “outcry” of my feelings, but I must see for my self whether the outcry is true. Then I’ll know. Then comes fire. It comes slowly, burns fiercely and justly, and ends quickly. Like God’s anger. Pure. Example. I hear noise. That’s all I know. I draw no conclusions as to what my children are doing up stairs. None. I go and see what the noise is and why it’s being made. My son is up to use the bathroom. He runs down the hall because he’s scared. I go and turn on a light to make sure the hall is lit....

PURE ANGER (PART 3)

God came down to see if the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was according to truth. If so, God said He would know! We have two considerations: Sodom’s ALLEGED sin, and the outcry against their sin. God takes no sides in the beginning. He waits. He comes. He sees for Himself, honoring those who cry to Him, and those who are cried out against. We see His graciousness and mercifulness, His slowness to anger. We see Him focusing on the truth with pure just and unbiased eyes. Now when He sees and knows, He decides and acts: Sodom will be destroyed! Fire will fall from heaven. Not a fire called down by men and women, but a decision based on His vision. He listened to the outcry. He saw with His own eyes. What about us? (Read Part 4.)

PURE ANGER (PART 2)

It is written, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger…The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love…His anger endures for a moment, but His mercy endures forever.” I’m seeing something. Do you see it? We know that when God get’s angry, plagues happen and the earth opens! Then it’s over. The flood, then a new beginning. But when the wrath of God comes, it comes full speed! Now for you and me. When we slow our anger, does the intensity increase or decrease? The pressure builds. But does it purify? Do we see more clearly? Not likely. But God does, and He wants the same for us. Emotion is the motivation of volition. Feelings fuel words and actions. How can we feel with the freedom God feels? Is His patience suppression? We see from Divine Expression that the answer is no! Let God show us how to feel angry. Before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, we find our Creator demonstrating perfect patience, justice, and anger. See how. Read part 3!

PURE ANGER (PART 1)

God’s anger is fire. It comes slowly and ends quickly. This is how anger should be. Our anger. But is it possible for us to be angry like God? He can fully express His anger because He only hates evil. We all know the Lord’s wrath is right, as it is written, “The Fear of the LORD is to hate evil.” Yet we tend to be mistaken about the facts. We get angry unjustly and quickly, and our anger lasts too long. What if we could let our anger out like God does? Read Part 2 and explore pure anger!

The 3 Things To BE (Or LOOK FOR) In GOOD HUSBANDS AND FATHERS (Part 2)

A true man is a servant. No one in the family gives more than him. This is the man’s supremacy: Humility. He supremely sacrifices himself, like Christ. In this way he seeks greatness, to be the head of his household. The man’s mood creates the atmosphere. He must be self-controlled when his children are unstable, and when his wife is in emotional turmoil. A man does have feelings, gently expressed. He controls his emotional intensity. He focuses his emotions, never using the power of his fierce feelings against his family, but against their enemies.

The 3 Things To BE (Or LOOK FOR) In GOOD HUSBANDS AND FATHERS (Part 1)

Good husbands and fathers are selfless, self-controlled, and gentle. Four scriptures show me this: 1. Exhort the young men to be self-controlled. 2. Husbands love your wives and do not be harsh towards them. 3. Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. 4. Whoever wishes to be great among you must be a servant, and whoever wishes to be first must be a slave of all. After almost 12 years of marriage and 10 years as a father, I know with certainty these three traits are necessary!

The 3 Things To BE (Or LOOK FOR) In GOOD HUSBANDS AND FATHERS (Part 3)

The three things necessary for good husbands and fathers are experienced through one specific skill: Speech! It is written, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” By words the man controls himself. By words he expresses gentleness, as it is written, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh word stirs up anger.” As the word of God says, the good man is “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” Servants listen more than they speak, and because they are selfless, they are slow to anger. As Rudyard Kipling said to his son, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming in you…” then you are indeed a man! If you are a man, by controlling your words, you can possess the three necessities of true masculinity! If you are a woman looking for a good husband and father, look for these three things, expressed by a man who controls his words.

The SECRET to Being Patient

Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”   Jonah 3:4



You clench your teeth so tight and for so long your jaws ache.
It's getting harder and harder not to say all of the things you want to say.
How much longer must you endure the lies and insults hurled at you?

HOW MUCH LONGER?

In that question lies the answer:  The Secret to Being Patient!

When you feel like you're going to explode, it's because you think you must hold in the fire of your anger forever.  You believe you have no outlet. 

But here is the secret:

Patience assumes a time limit!

If it didn't, the word would be meaningless.

When you're driving, or waiting in line, you know the drive will come to an end, and that your turn in line will finally come.  So you can be PATIENT.  You can wait.  Because waiting assumes you're waiting for SOMETHING, and when that something happens, THE WAIT IS OVER!

THAT'S THE SECRET!
THE INHERENT LIMIT OF THE WAIT!

God Himself places limits on His patience, though He could wait for thousands of years if He chose.  But He wouldn't, yea, COULDN'T, wait forever!  Because forever means whatever you're waiting for won't ever happen!  God decides when things will happen.  He makes a decision.  So can you.  Follow God's example.

Jonah told the Ninevites that God would destroy their city in 40 days.  Why 40 days?  Why not right now, or in 1 day, or in 3 days?  10 days?  You get the point.  God decided to give a time limit, long enough for a chance to repent, but not so long that evil endures. 

What about you? 
What's your limit?

Think of the longest time you feel you can endure a wrong doing, a limit that doesn't allow the wrong to do irreparable damage.  Do you give the person 3 chances?  Do you wait for 30 minutes?

Now that you know the secret to being patient, you have the power to use that secret.
Decide a limit, and wait no longer.
Feel patience power.

Tell me what you think. 
Leave me a comment about your patience challenges.

(I hope I'm helping you with my words.  If I am, tell me, share me, and follow me!)

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW AND DO TO LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE



God is A Relationship, The Relationship defining every relation and person.  Existence, Expression, and Experience.  Father, Son, Holy Spirit.  The Father Is Who He Is.  The Son is The Exact Image and Likeness and Embodiment of the Invisible Father.  The Spirit is the Experience of The Father and Son’s Union.

 

You are aware of God through Creation and conscience, as Your Creator and Law Maker, as the one to whom you owe your life, for whom you live your life.

But you ignore Him as your Creator and you disobey Him as your Law Maker.

Because of these two things, because you reject your Creator and Law Maker, your source of life and goodness, you are subject to the penalty of God:  The Eternal Death Penalty.  Those who reject God are rejected by God.  Those who rebel against the Supreme King are banished from life by the King of Kings.

 

This is true for you.

 

But God loves you.

 

He wants you to live and not die, and to be what He made you to be.

 

So He Himself paid your death penalty by becoming a man, dying for your wrong doings.  Having died for you to be forgiven and for your sins to be forgotten, He rose from the dead for you, so that your life and identity will be new. 

 

If you accept what God has done for you, then you will be forgiven, your sins forgotten, and you will become one of God’s children.  God’s Spirit will live inside of your new spirit, and he will lead you in all you do.  You will be like God and act like God, possessing eternal power and a divine nature. 

 

You and God will no longer be enemies.

 

But you will become someone else’s enemy:  The Devil’s enemy.

 

Submit to God.

Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

Be intimate with God, and He will be intimate with you.

 

1. Read His words to know His nature; read them from the beginning to the end.
2. Be faithful to your conscience.  This is how the Spirit begins to lead you.
3. After faithfulness to your conscience, be faithful to your intuition.  From there the Spirit gives you revelations. 
4. Finally, listen to His voice, which you will learn from the Scriptures, from faithfulness to your conscience, and from faithfulness to intuition.

This is eternal life:  Intimate relationship with God.

 

How to BE SPIRITUALLY POWERFUL AND INVINCIBLE (PART4)

Stubborn faith can be a problem. What if you are a man who is waging war on a specific denomination, who sincerely believes he has truth, and that a specific denomination is utterly deceived!? How can we be invincible by our shield of faith if we don’t know how to discern THE TRUTH? I have the answer! Here is THE truth by which you measure ALL TRUTH, interpret the ENTIRE Bible, and understand ALL OF LIFE: THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!!! THE GOOD NEWS!! If it isn’t GOOD NEWS, it’s not THE TRUTH! Even if God has to discipline us, there is hope at the end of His discipline. Restoration. GOOD NEWS! Every true prophet gives hope in the midst of coming judgments. Does John MacArthur have any good news for those who seek the power and presence of the Holy Spirit? Jesus does! “You will receive power when the Spirit comes upon you!” That’s good news for those who believe in him! Put up your shield of faith against contradictions of the gospel, the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ! Then you will be spiritually powerful and invincible!

How to BE SPIRITUALLY POWERFUL AND INVINCIBLE (PART 3)

Faith is our shield, blocking us from the words of Satan. From ALL of the words of Satan. We become powerful and invincible when we absolutely refuse to listen to Satan! We block our minds from every deception. With Satan and demons and deception we are unconditionally intolerant, stubborn, bull headed, and unresponsive! We are rude to Satan! Giving him no respect, no time, no attention, no audience! When we close ourselves off to him to this extent, we become untouchable! Quenching ALL of the fiery darts of the wicked one. All of his deceptions, temptations and accusations, confusions and distractions. We hear truth alone. We speak truth alone. We act upon truth alone. Through Christ we are powerful and invincible! (READ PART 4!)

How to BE SPIRITUALLY POWERFUL AND INVINCIBLE (PART 2)

God commands us to take His armor, His complete armor. We are to do this because the devil schemes against us. But we can be invincibly immovable and moving against our enemy. By God’s Truth, we can resist and defeat the father of lies. By Christ’s Righteousness which comes from our faith in Christ, we can resist the slanderer-tempter-accuser. By the Spirit of Peace we defeat the devil’s disorder and confusion. By the hope of Christ’s salvation, we defeat the hopelessness of Satan. Now we come to the essential thing that makes us powerful and invincible!

How to BE SPIRITUALLY POWERFUL AND INVINCIBLE (PART 1)

To be powerful is to be immovable and moving. To be invincible is to be unstoppable. God shows us to the way to be like Him. This is what He says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” He commands invincible strength. This means it’s God’s will, and that we can do it. By “we” I mean us who trust in God alone. Those whose faith is in Christ alone possess invincible power from God.

The Differences Between GOD AND SATAN (PART 3)

Satan affects a room in such a way as to hypnotize. You feel your mind overwhelmed with pleasure or displeasure, to the point where your focus seems impossible, and the pleasure or displeasure seem irresistible. Key word: Irresistible. God never rapes our spirits with His wonder or power. God Himself can be rejected by us. True, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This will not be an option. Hell and heaven won’t be options in the end. But today they are chosen. Today you determine your final end. Satan seeks to intoxicate you until you are addicted to yourself. God seeks to reveal Himself to you so that you may be like Him. With Satan, whether he comes through pleasure or displeasure, something in you will alert you to his danger. Something will always be “off.” With God, whether you feel pleasure or you suffer, you will feel a deep incomprehensible peace that liberates your mind and emotions to love God, men, and women. God is love. Satan is the murderer and hater. If you want God, you will have him. He gives you this choice. Satan does not

The Differences Between GOD AND SATAN (PART 2)

Here are the differences between God and Satan: God made Himself known as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He said He would be known by this name forever. Jesus came in the flesh, died for our sins, and rose for our regeneration. Jesus is Lord. Any one who says otherwise should be rejected. The Spirit of truth is truth, guiding us into all truth; God’s word is truth; God’s Son is the truth. The Spirit acknowledges Jesus is Lord, and Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Those who follow the Spirit glorify Christ and love as He loves. Satan wants our wills and minds passive. God’s Spirit wants active minds and wills. Satan operates from the outside in, God from the inside out. Satan confuses and condemns unknown or nonspecific sin, creating hopelessness. God clarifies and convicts specific sins, giving the hope of forgiveness. God is light. Satan is the prince of darkness.

The Differences Between GOD AND SATAN (PART 1)

No one who encounters God mistakes Satan for God. The Spirit of God is never taken for a demon. There are false prophets, false teachers, and false miracle workers. But God is God. He is who He is. There is no one and nothing like Him. Those who encounter Him never think anything else. Many false prophets and false christs come and go. But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God said through the prophet Malachi, “I, the LORD, do not change.” Jesus called the Holy Spirit “the Spirit of truth.” John said the Spirit is truth. False gods never compared to the only true God. May we never dishonor the Father, the Son, or the Spirit by assuming they are so flimsy as to be easily mistaken for Satan.

How to TEST SPIRITS Without FEAR (PART 2)

God’s children fear God. We know that deception is possible, but not necessarily probable. We are watchful for Satan’s deceptions, but without fear of our communion with God by His Spirit. It is our birthright to understand and know God through faith in Christ Jesus, as He is revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Submit to God. Resist the Devil. Depend on God’s power. Test those who say they have a message from God to you, and test yourself before you give messages from God to others. But refuse to live in fear of being deceived. Refuse to believe the Spirit of God is less real than you are.

How to Test SPIRITS Without FEAR (Part 1)

Perfect love casts out fear. God is love. The Spirit is God. Therefore, the Spirit casts out fear. Testing the spirits in scripture refers to our own spirit and the spirits of false teachers and prophets. We test our character and the character of others, whether we are in total submission to the Spirit of Christ. We test our power and the power of others, whether we are dependent on the gifts God alone gives. But God's Spirit is Certainty. Perfectly Trustworthy. Imitations of Satan and demons bear no comparison to the true and living God.

The Two Paths of Life Before You

It is written, “The LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.” Between God’s children and Satan’s children there is a distinction: their paths of life end drastically different. One is watched by the LORD with care. The other rejects God’s care, choosing self care over God’s. Choose today which path you’ll take, who will care for you, who will watch over you. The righteous are those who trust in God’s mercy and love alone. The unrighteous feel they need no one. Choose today which you will be. God loves you.

How YOUR NAME Can CHANGE YOUR LIFE (PART 1)

What comes to mind when people say your name? What should come to mind is the meaning of your name. When you see the sun you think “Day.” With the moon you think “Night.” God called the light day and the darkness He called night. Names encompass the reality of identity. So it should be with your name. In fact, if you embody your name, you will discover the meaning of your life.

How YOUR NAME Can CHANGE YOUR LIFE (Part 2)

A man who was an exalted father became the father of nations. Abram became Abraham. A shifty and shady man became one who prevails with God and man. Jacob became Israel. Become your name. And if your name has no meaning, or a bad meaning, change the meaning by your reputation. Make people think a different word when they think your name. When you become your name, you become like God, who said these words to Moses: I AM WHO I AM!

How to CHANGE ANY BEHAVIOR You Want (Starting TODAY) Part 2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Romans 12:2a

You hear self help authors say this all of the time: 

Change the way you think!

You know there is some truth to it, and that the truth will set you free, as Jesus said.  But you don’t know how.  Not really.

Here’s how.

First, as I said in the last blog, you must be reborn.  Apart from this crucial change, no other change will happen.  You must become a new creation, a new person:  One of God’s children.  This must be the new definition of who you are as a person.  It happens by accepting who Jesus is and what He did.  He is God in the flesh who died for your sins and rose so you can start again.  Accept that, and you are literally a new person, as it is written,

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

You are born of the Spirit.  Now you must life in union with the Spirit.  This union is the supreme ultimate change in every behavior!  It happens by choosing to focus on what the Spirit desires, and not on what you desire:

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.  Romans 8:5-6 NIV

Let’s apply this to the mini map formula we learned in the last blog:

1.       If you set your mind on what the Spirit desires, you will live in union with the Spirit AND experience life and peace! 

2.       Can you do it?  YES!  You determine what you set your mind on!

3.       Is it worth it!  ABSOLUTELY!  What’s better than being one with God’s Spirit, and experiencing true life and peace from God Himself!?

After being spiritually reborn, or born of the Spirit, you must change your mindset from focus on the physical to focus on the spiritual--what the Spirit desires!  This change is THE change!  Let’s apply this to a specific behavior…in the NEXT POST!  (CLICK HERE!)

How to CHANGE ANY BEHAVIOR You Want (Starting TODAY) Part 1

According to the book Influencer-The Power to Change Anything:

“People choose their behaviors based on what they think will happen to them as a result.”   

It goes on to describe “mini maps of cause and effect” in a kind of formula:   

IF—THEN—THEREFORE.

The example is of a snake phobic who thinks, “IF I touch a snake, THEN it will instantly bite and kill me.  THEREFORE, I won’t touch a snake.”

The powerful conclusion: 

“If you want to change behavior, any behavior, you have to change maps of cause and effect.”

More glorious than this, the book gives the only two expectations needed to change any behavior, the only two questions you need to answer:

1.       Is it worth it?

2.      Can I do it?

Change one or both of these expectations, and you can change any behavior!

Now apply this to scripture and find it startlingly accurate!

God and the Devil agree.

Here’s how.

God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. IF Adam eats from this tree, THEN Adam will SURELY DIE.  THEREFORE, Adam should obey.

Satan’s INFLUENCE deceived Eve.  He changed Eve’s mini map of cause and effect! 

You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

Break down Satan’s mini map deception:

1.       IF Eve eats from the forbidden tree, THEN she will not surely die; THEREFORE, she should not fear disobeying God.

2.       Instead, IF she eats from the forbidden tree, THEN she will be like God!

Eve thinks it over.  The fruit looks good and edible, answering the first vital question:  “Can I do it?”  Next, she considers it profitable to make her wise, answering the second question:   “Is it worth it.” 

So she disobeys God by Satan’s influence!

But God also gives us the power to change any behavior!  The first power He gives us is called repentance, which is literally the change of mind from self centeredness to God centeredness.  Because Jesus took the punishment for our past sins, we can be born again, starting completely over!  After this initial life behavior change, there are two other examples of changing any behaviors we want!  (Click HERE for part 2)

How to CHANGE ANY BEHAVIOR You Want (Starting TODAY) Part 3

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh word stirs up anger.”   

Proverbs 15:1

Many of us suffer from a bad temper.  We have one, or live with someone who does.  We hurt, or we get hurt.

Today it ends!

Solomon received his wisdom directly from God!  We’ll put his divinely wise words in the mini map formula:

1.       IF you answer gently, THEN you will turn away intense anger.  The implication:  THEREFORE, answer gently.

2.       Can you do it?  YES.  Solomon is telling you how to do it, if you choose to do so.

3.       Is it worth it?  YOU KNOW IT IS!  You know how much regret you have from losing your temper, or how much pain you’ve felt when someone lost his or her temper with you.

I used to think this verse only focused on “the other person.”  I imagined talking to a man with a bad temper, or a woman whose words are venom.  I saw myself answering her gently, responding to him softly, and deescalating their anger as a result.  This is true, yet God showed me something else.

The primary person’s anger I’m dealing with is my own!  IF I answer gently, THEN I will turn away MY OWN WRATH!  But IF I answer harshly, THEN I will stir up MY OWN ANGER!

Do you see it!?

In other words, if my own gentle answer leaves me livid, how can I be confident it will calm the other livid person!?

So the beauty in God’s wisdom to Solomon is in how you can change your own temper by changing the mini map of cause and effect in your own mind.  Before, you used to feel like this:  IF  I encounter this person and situation, THEN I’m going to LOSE IT!  THEREFORE, when you have the encounter, YOU LOSE IT!  Or you believe IF I give this woman a piece of my mind, THEN I’ll feel better.  THEREFORE, you let her have it! 

But do you REALLY feel better?  Perhaps at that moment, until you calm down later and realize the damage you’ve done; to yourself and her.

If you want to stop doing this damage, or any other damage:

1.       Be reborn of the Spirit.

2.       Be focused on the Spirit.

This is the ultimate change, and the ultimate way to experience every change. 

You can do it!

It is worth it!

What God is Looking for In YOU

God looks through out the world to find someone to reveal His strength to. Will God find you? What is our reputation in heaven? Does He consider you different from the masses of humans? What is our distinction in God’s eyes? This is what God is looking for in you: Faith--Your complete confidence in Him. God is looking for our trust. So if you say, “God, I am trusting you completely,” and take one act that requires a risk of faith, you will be aware of His eyes watching you, and preparing a response of Supreme Power. Ask God today for something that takes faith. Before you go to sleep, you will see God’s strength on your behalf.

EVERYTHING You Need to Do IN TWO WORDS

Believe and obey God. These two things come as a result of knowing what He did for us. And this is what God did for us: He gave us the way to be right with Him—Trust in His Son. To trust Jesus is summed up perfectly in these two words: FOLLOW JESUS. Follow His Spirit. When His earliest disciples obeyed his command to follow, this expressed trust and obedience perfectly and practically. Simply being with Jesus gave them two things: The knowledge and likeness of God. Just being with Jesus is enough. It’s enough for you too. Follow Jesus.

The Two BEST SOURCES OF INFORMATION for YOUR LIFE (Part 2)

Solomon wasn’t just the King of Israel, the one who received wisdom from God, but he was also the son of David, the man after God’s own heart.  I noticed that the first Psalm and the first chapter of Proverbs start with the same teaching of life, which leads me to believe that Solomon took his father’s words to heart.  In fact, Solomon’s wise sayings often refer to the wisdom of his own father, his second best source of information, and ours.

Spiritual parents.

Our own experiences of God showing us the rules of life, and the experiences of spiritual parents who’ve gone before us, receiving wisdom from God, are our two best sources of information needed for our lives.

Is there a problem in your life right now?  If not, there will be.  Think about it as hard as you can.  And when you come to the end of your mind’s ability, give up, and ask God for wisdom.  Then relax.  On that day, or right before you really need it, He’ll give it. 

Make this the habit of your life. 
Find someone who seems to just know things about everything.  A man who seems to understand how life works.  A woman who sees the laws of life and the universe.  A man or woman who will tell you plainly, “God is giving me wisdom.” 

Follow them.  Be like them.  Live well.