Good enough

Be still, and know that I am God. My grace is sufficient or you. (Psa46:10 / 2 Cor 12:9)

Do you ever feel plagued with failure and defeat? So consumed in trying to be ‘good enough’ that you smother yourself in grief because, no matter how hard or how diligent you are, you’ll never BE good enough? Come on… you know what Im talking about! When every victory is turned to loss – when every slip-up becomes a personal Mt. Everest. It wears you down! You wear yourself out, doing and going and trying, and the harder you go – the more you feel like nothing you ever could do will ever amount to you being good enough!

Well, guess what! The secret is that you dont have to be good enough. You dont have to be perfect, or beautiful, or any of those other things. God loves you regardless of how messed up, damaged, flawed, and broken you are. He created you, He understands you, and regardless of the good, the bad, and the ugly, He accepts you and He desires, more than anything, to have a relationship with YOU. He absolutely, whole-heartedly loves you without condition or cause. It simply does not matter what you have done – He loves you anyway.

Sure, there are things that we do or say, or ways we act, that He doesnt like; but that doesnt stop Him from loving us! That is His gift to us. Its free! All we have to do is accept it!

John 3:16… For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Gift of Faith

Faith, as described in the Gifts of the Spirit, is a bit different than the typical description of Faith, which to every man is given a good measure (Romans 12:3).

The Gift of Faith is having an uncanny, unwavering ‘knowledge’ that God not only can, but WILL act. There will be absolutely nothing or no one who will be able to convince this person otherwise, especially in a crisis. Regardless of how long it may take to achieve the break-through, this person does not give up. This is the strongest form of faith that humanly exists. The person operating under this gift will fully and completely trust God, without any doubt, and will righteously stand, very firmly planted, on Gods Word. This person will also be quick to quote scripture and biblical reference over situations; be it mental, physical, financial, or in regards to others whom they are standing in agreement with. This person may also have tendency to become irritated with others who “dont get it”.

Those operating under “typical faith” (for lack of a better descriptive term) will often find themselves faced with doubt. They may or may not adherently stand on scripture and so forth, but the major difference is that this person will generally have a tougher time in remaining as firmly planted in comparison to the person operating under this gift.

Other traits of a person blessed with the Gift of Faith are quick to pray, insightful, and quick to act. They remain trusting, positive, assured, and hopeful. They also are quick to give thanks and praise to God for all things.

Word of Wisom

Another of the Gifts of The Spirit is a Word of Wisdom. It seems to be more common than some would think, but the Words of Knowledge and of Wisdom have tendency (or so Ive noticed) to be mixed up with each other. Knowledge, as previously explained, is when the Holy Spirit delivers information to His people. But the (sometimes) missing link, or other half of the puzzle, to having that knowledge is also knowing what to do with or about it once its been received. That is where Word of Wisdom comes into play.

The Word of Wisdom is our instruction, or practical direction, on how to deal with or what to do about the Word of Knowledge that we had been given.

First, we need to understand that the Lord doesnt just “blindly pass along info” just for the fun of doing it. Everything He does has a purpose, and everything He says also has a purpose. Even the simplest things are based on a reason. And since that is the case, it is the receivers’ responsibility to wait – and ask Him, if need be- to find out what it is that should be done with that information. Sometimes the information will be then directly followed by the instructions of why we were given that Word, and other times, that may not be the case. In fact, when we dont receive that instruction, we should do nothing with the information until the instruction is given. In other words, if you dont spiritually receive that answer, dont create it by your own accord. This is one case in point, also, where confirmation is important. The Lord is very “user friendly” in this manner. When in doubt of what your instructions are, wait for confirmation… by checking for scriptural alignment and (true) prophetic Words given by others, its quite easy to receive three – yes, 3 – confirmations before acting upon any given situation.

An example of a having a word of wisdom is described in the story in 1 Kings 3:16-28. King Solomon had to solve the dispute brought to him in regards of the two women, both having a child at the same time & one’s child died. Both women claimed the living child as hers. King Solomon had no idea which woman was actually the living childs’ true mother. But, by using wisdom, he knew the most practical way to find the truth; knowing the real mother would do anything to save / protect her child. So, by threatening to divide him in half, he knew the real mother would rather loose physical custody of him rather than see him harmed, let alone put to death.

Generally speaking, those blessed with the gifting of wisdom often will have these traits: acute problem solving abilities – focus on unseen consequences – settle arguments – rational – sensitive to situations – apply spiritual truth to real life – practical – reasonable – and logical.

Pt. 8 ~ Faith

DO YOU WANT MORE?
There are NO limits to the amount of faith that we can have. If you are satisfied with your current portion, theres no need to continue reading this… just keep doing what youre doing and youll have the same results. However, if you want more – to have more – you can not expect to get different results by repeating the same actions. To have “more” you literally must do more!

To increase your faith, lets think of this as a steel door that has multiple locks on it. To get inside, ALL of the locks have to be unlocked. To do this, there is one major key to open up that dead-bolt lock, and then several other keys which will unlock the door knob and unhinge the chain-locks. The key to the deadbolt is vital to have. It is this: you must have a true relationship with the gate-keeper, Jesus Christ. Without this, none of the other keys are going to grant you access.

The key to unlocking the door knob is given to us in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” This is the key to understanding how the deadbolt (relationship) key works. In order to have a true relationship with Christ, you have to know Him and He has to know you. Remember here, a relationship takes two – one sided relationships never work out! Half of that is already taken care of though, since we know that He already knows what is in our hearts as He is the One who created all. But since we dont have that ability, to just naturally know such things, we have to put some elbow grease into action and, as you would in building any relationship, you must be willing and actually spend the time it takes to do this. And, because Christ is not manifested to us in a physical body, we have to go about getting to know him in a different way than how we would with a girl/boyfriend, etc., and that takes us to the above instruction. We have to be able to hear His Word. We do this by not only reading, but studying and meditating on His Word – given to us in scripture.

Once those first two locks open, if we turn the knob and push, we will notice that the door is cracked open but there are a few chain locks still in place, so now have to be able to get those open before gaining full access into the Throne room of Christ. The first of these locks is labeled with a tag, saying communication. We communicate with Him through prayer. The better our “people skills” (talking) are, the better we will become at hearing His small, still voice. Then as time passes, our ability to openly communicate with Him will increase. Even tho He knows what is in our hearts and what our needs are, He directly tells us to ASK Him for what we need and want. (James 4:3 / Matt 7:7 / John 16:24 / Joshua 10:12-13).

After we have mastered these things, we will come to the next chain on the door. This one is tagged as knowledge. By such things, we become bolder Christians (Heb 4:16) and as such, we begin to better understand (to gain knowledge of Him) and that allows us to walk in His love. Which, by the way, without that love, faith will not work! As love produces belief, faith without belief is useless. The greatest commandment He gives us is that we are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and body and then to love others as ourselves, as Christ loves us (Mark 12:30-31).

Finally, we come to the last chain on the door. This one is tagged “Speak”. We increase our faith by speaking Jesus’ Word over our situation – whatever that may be. We are told what comes out of the mouth is what is in the heart (Matt 15:18). So, if what we speak is what we believe, and believing in His Word is what produces love, which produces belief, then our portion of faith grows. (Mark 11:22-24) That then only stands to reason that -as this door is now fully opened – all we have to do is walk through it (take a step forward) to gain the full access that we desire… and with most all things, the more often we do it – the better we become at doing it – and the more that increases, so does our ability to receive what He has for us (receiving being as easy as stepping past the open doorway) in knowing that (James 1:17) “all good and perfect gifts come from the Father.”

Will You Fight?

Are you a warrior in God’s Army?
We know who the enemy is! And we know why he has came… to kill, steal, and destroy. The way he does this is thru the use of schemes, tactics, and devices. The schemes he uses are delay, diversion, and confusion. His tactics are temptation, stealing of time, and preventing knowledge from getting into us. The devices he uses to accomplish such things are fear, deception, accusations, mental and/or physical exhaustion, and forming ways of making us forget to use the name of Jesus and the power of His shed blood. (James 1:13-15 / Heb 10:23 / Hosea 4:6)

Satan – the enemy – is thee master deceiver! He *sugar-coats* things. He is very, very well accomplished at it. In fact, if given the right audience, he could convince the masses that taking rat poison is beneficial and life sustaining. After all, hes had a few thousand years to practice. He does not miss any and every chance that he has and can find to manipulate each and every one of us! Being a christian does not spare you from his antics either. Truth be told, being a christian paints a big red proverbial X on your back, and the more work you do in Christs name, the bigger the X will become because the very last thing he wants you to do is to follow Jesus.

God has given us all the weapons that we need to defeat the enemy. We have “the Armor of God” in combination with prayer, fasting, the sword of the Spirit, the Word, worship, praise, faith, the authority given through using the name of Jesus, and His blood. We have wisdom, discernment, His anointing, the ability to resist, and the other gifts of the Spirit. So, are we prepared for battle? Absolutely! But the question is … WILL YOU FIGHT?… Or will you be deceived?

Lessons

…. BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE

Psalms 30:5…. “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

Everyone has problems. Its part of life. Bad things do happen to good people. How we react to those things is what determines how our lives are effected by them.

Some highlights of a few (physical) things Ive personally walked through include:
1. Born with rare kidney disease – 2 surgeries by age 1.5 yrs old
2. Fell off a Tennessee Walker @ age 6, split my head open front to back
3. Uncountable minor & serious accidents on bikes, minibikes, & motorcycles
4. Physical & mental abuse throughout childhood, my last beating was at age 19
5. 3 fender-benders / 2 serious car accidents
6. Cut tongue in half & knocked out front teeth
7. Lost hearing in left ear
8. Cancer – 6 surgeries to date, and stage 4 endometriosis
9. Lost nearly every material possession I owned
10. Multiple layers of cysts covering organs
11. Scar tissue and cysts grown / twisted into kidney & bowel
12. Spine damage; herniated disks, degenerative disk disease, severe curvature
13. Broken and dislocated elbow
14. 8 bi-lateral meniscus tears around knee cap
15. Broken both ankles – at same time

As you can see, Im no stranger to pain. But, the important part – the part I want you to realize – is that God did NOT do these things to me. The devil did! And if it werent for the grace, mercy, and love that God has for me – I would had died a long, long time ago!

Jeremiah 29:11… “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.”

Instead of allowing me to die at infancy due to a kidney disease that no surgeon had ever operated on before nor knew how to fix, God gave a specialist, from Spain, the knowledge and willingness to come to America to attempt a never-before-done procedure… On his dime… and God, working through this man, restored my life! Instead of allowing me to give up and allow disease to take over my body, He taught me how to live in faith, how to trust IN Him, and how to stand on His Word to be able to receive His healing power. By allowing me to loose nearly all I had, He taught me what its like to do without, which has given me such a deep desire to help others and the ability to bless them in every way I can. Instead of letting me go around ashamed of my own smile, He gave me a way to have a smile that I dont have to be ashamed of. Instead of continuing to allow me to “run off at the mouth”, He taught me to be silent and then gave me the capability to speak His Words. Instead of remaining deaf, He opened up my ear so I could listen to Him, rather than half-ways hear what He was saying. He also taught me what it means to “be still and know that He IS God.” Instead of allowing me to be consumed by the experience of what it was to be kicked, stomped on, thrown around, spit on, cursed, and beaten to the point of having blood pouring down my back and legs from being “marched home” by the aid of a switch off of a thorn bush (covered in 2″ thorns) – God gave me the ability to realize and understand that His Son, Jesus, was born for the very reason of willfully enduring such immensely worse beatings – because He loves me! Instead of God allowing me to feel hatred all my life for the man who beat this child for so many years, He showed me how He forgave others for doing far worse to Him and taught me how to not only forgive, but to truly love the person who did those things to me… then further taught me that since I could forgive and love that person, that forgiving and loving others is not only easy, but a release of joy within my own self to do so.

Pt. 7 ~ Faith

SPEAK IT!… BELIEVE IT!… RECEIVE IT!… & GIVE THANKS, ALWAYS!

HOW DO YOU GET YOUR PRAYERS ANSWERED? There are literal steps that we are instructed to do, in order to have our needs super-naturally provided for, by God (to have our prayers answered).

First, 1John 5:14-15 tells us. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask [SPEAK] anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have [get] what we asked of Him.” This tells us that what ever we are asking for, we have to ask for it with the correct motives and in a certain way – which is to be in agreement with Gods’ Word.

Second, Matt 21:22 tells us what to do. “IF you BELIEVE [trust], you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Notice, that is *conditional*; IF you do something, you will get something. This is even more so explained in Mark 11:24. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” In order to get answers, not only do we have to ask for what we need, we have to – what? – use our faith – by believing that we have already received what we have asked for, at the time we ask for it – before we have the physical proof of seeing what it is that we are in need of.

Third, the following scriptures tells us that we RECEIVE what we ask of God, through demonstrating by our faith in Him, proving that we have no doubt that He will provide what we have asked of Him. How do we know we already have it? Lets check out Matt 9:29. There it tells us “… According to your faith let it be to you.” Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” And, as the third confirmation of such, lets go back and dig just a tiny bit deeper to James 1. In verses 6-8 we read, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person [who doubts] should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” That’s pretty self-explanatory!

Finally, we need to always GIVE THANKS for every thing that God gives us. He does not owe us a single thing, but because of His never-ending love for us, He desires for us to have a life full of blessings, without curse. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). These things are instructed to us through 1Thessalonians 5:18 “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”

So – lets sum this up: whatever you ask for, find a scripture to back up your request. This assures you that you are asking according to His will. Once you have found what backs up your rights to having what you are requesting, pray that scripture in reference to your request. During the time that you are speaking the Word (making your request), you will be able to ask for it, in faith, knowing without doubt that, as a child of God, you are entitled to have such things. Then, by using your faith, also believe without doubt that you have already received what you are asking for. And, since you have already received it, as a demonstration of that faith, thank the Lord for having given it to you.

(note: if you cant back up your request by scripture, then chances are pretty high that you’re not going to get it. For example, you shouldnt ask for a person to be cursed. Doing so goes against Gods’ will – which is His Word, and He will not grant such a request.)

Grace and Mercy

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE?

Figuring out the difference between grace and mercy can get a bit confusing. It took me a while to ‘get it straight’ when it came to this because the two “words” tend to get mixed up quite often. So, I thought I would write this short post.

To make it simple, grace is blessings given to you when you dont deserve it. There is nothing we can do to qualify ourselves to receive Gods grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–” Eph 2:8. Another example is given in 2Corinthians 12:9 …”But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness… “.

Mercy is being saved from a punishment that you did deserve to get… Or… to have acts of pity and or deep concern bestowed upon you instead of getting what you deserve. Titus 3:5 explains it like this, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;” A second verse that ‘fits the bill’ is Lamentations 3:22, “Because of the Lords’ great love we are not consumed, for his compassion (mercies) never fails. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Needless to say, without both – God’s grace and mercy – we would all be in ‘big’ trouble!

Fruit Of The Spirit

WHAT IS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT?
There are 9 outward signs of a person who is living a true Christian life. As christians, we should be demonstrating ALL 9 of these; not just a couple. Basically, our goal is to constantly “kill the flesh” and be spiritually minded. Galatians 5:22-26 explains to us what, exactly, the “fruit” means: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

Killing the flesh, on the other hand, is explained to us in Galatians 5:19-21. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Our desired results are to “bear fruit” by planting seeds – as seeds planted will reproduce likeness to itself. By showing ourselves as the fruit of the Spirit, we are planting seeds, and once those seeds are matured, the harvest will be that of leading others to salvation, through Christ.

Be A Blessing

JUST GIVE IT AWAY…
In Luke 6:38 we read, “Give and it shall be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

There is a mountains worth if wisdom in the above verse. If we accept it as its written, in faith, then this is our instructions on how to be a blessing to others, and how to gain blessings.

First, we are told “give”… What are we suppose to give? Anything that we are asked to hand over is an answer that pretty much sums it up. Ok! Now, before you start off on a tangent about how you can’t afford to give away this, that, or the other… or rant over how you are not going to support the habits of an addict… lets finish the sentence. You have to understand that if the Lord has asked you to give something away, He will also instruct you in regards to who to give it to. All you have to do is listen, and be obedient to His Word.

Many times, your instruction may just be to say a kind word to a stranger. Other times, as you become more advanced in your “giving skills”, the things you give will increase in value. Why is that? Simply because if God sees that you can be trusted with instructions of little things, He will know that you can be trusted with more. So, in general, the more you give, the more you will be trusted, and in return, the more you will receive. After all, the second thing that is said in the above scripture is “and it shall be given to you.” Its been proven time and time again, it doesnt matter how much you give away, you can never out-give God! You only have to …do what?… have faith and trust in Him.

And remember… Its always better to give than it is to receive. It makes you feel better about yourself. It makes others feel better about you. It shows humbleness (if done correctly). And it “lets your light shine”. What light? Well, the light of Christ that shines through you, as a Christian.