Child Like Faith

¹³ Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. ¹⁵ Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” ¹⁶ And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

My four-year-old has been on this kick about having super powers.  Everything we tell her that she can't do she says she can because she has super powers.  She said she's not afraid of bugs because she has super powers that protect her or help her.  She said that she can heal her family and she can do anything!  This was such a revelation for me because  she truly believed in her super powers and had faith in what they can do.  We are all born with that faith and somewhere along the way we are taught to be logical and analytical about things and we start to over think and under believe.  God tells us plain as say that we should have child like faith....simple faith!  God has given us dominion over all things.  Not a few things, all things!  We lose out on so much because we over analyze it and tend to feel silly about praying over and/or speaking to certain things.

²⁰ So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;^[d] for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹ However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”^[e]

Have faith and believe that you have already received everything that you pray for.  Know that God's promises are solid and you already have what the word says you can have.  Now it's time to possess your possessions and what God has promised you through prayer and un shakeable faith.  We have "super (natural) powers" and can do all things through Christ (Phil.4:13) utilize your inheritance and move mountains!

Good Bondage...

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand tin the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

It is important that we thank God daily for the full armor that he has provided for us.  We need to make sure it is prayed up and secured properly at all times because our spirits are constantly in battle for us.  With that being said, I want to focus on verse Ephesians 6:20 where it says "For which I an an ambassador in chains..." I struggled for a long time with that verse because I was thinking in the flesh about being in chains.  I kept praying and saying Lord why are we in chains when you say we have free will.  Lord I know you set us free from bondage.  So what is the significance of being in chains (KJV says bonds)?  I received revelation one morning as I prayed and the Holy Spirit began to minister to me and explain that I am to be bound to the word of God.  The same way that a man and woman marry and become bound together as one; we as the body of Christ are His bride and bound as one in the body and to the Living Word.
When we spend time in the word, and we pray to the Lord and spend time really getting to know Him and speaking to him in our heavenly language or in understanding, we are getting intimate with Christ and developing the same relationship that we desire to have with our mates.  We do so many things in our earthly relationships to please our mates.  We go on dates to bring back romance, we light candles and desire to spend intimate time together to keep love strong and the bond stronger.  It works the same way with Christ.  He desires our time, He desires us to talk to Him, worship Him, acknowledge Him; spend some intimate time with Him, in His word strengthening your bond with Christ!

Nesting

I read a post of my best friend's the other day and she said that she was starting to nest to prepare for her little one that is on the way.  So I looked up the definition of "nesting" the other day and it was described as an action that pregnant women perform in their third trimester...preparing the house for their new baby; likened to mocking the ritual of birds preparing a nest before hatching eggs.  The same way that pregnant women and birds, in their right, "nest" to prepare for a new life; we, as believers, should  continuously nest and prepare for what God has in store for us. 
God revealed to me that, although I have never been pregnant in the natural; I have been pregnant in the spirit realm plenty of times and miscarried because I wasn't ready.  My spirit was willing but not ready because my flesh was not obedient.  I have been impregnated with a vision and it's about to birth, I am and will be obedient to the word of God and speak life to all things in my presence.  Calling those things that are not as though they are, God will begin too allow my spirit to dilate and eventually go into labor and birth in the natural what He has already done and showed me in the supernatural.  Right now, I will nest and/or prepare for me to be used as a vessel for what God has in store.
We have to understand the God can't bless us with better until we can take care of what we have right now.  This rings true for houses, money, cars, our bodies in health and weight and everything else.  He desires the best for us, but, if we can't take care of - what we consider - mediocre things, then how can He trust us with luxurious things.  Family listen, in the same way that Jesus went to prepare a place for us in His father's house (John 14:2) because He loved us; we need to prepare a place for Him in our hearts and in our lives period.  Prepare and keep up with what He has blessed us with so that we can pull what is already manifested for us out of the supernatural and eat of the good of the land in the natural.  Take time to nest and you'll be blessed!

Revelation & Understanding

For a long time I was a sporadic church attendee, I was the best “Sunday/Wednesday Christian” I could be.  Every time I went to church, there was always a song or a word that would hit my spirit and I would begin to cry. I would feel so convicted by the word and vow to change right then and there, but it always stopped at my words.  At some point in my life, I began to feel that if I didn’t cry at church, or I didn’t hear a word that caused me to lose control of my emotions then I wasn’t receiving it right or I wasn’t being fed.

This morning I was listening to Yolanda Adams “Yeah” and praising in the car on my way to work. I was praying and singing and asking for forgiveness because I know I haven’t been perfect.  Something in my mind started to tell me that I was praying hard enough and I wasn’t sincere because I wasn’t weeping in my praise or prayer.  Then something even more amazing happened…my spirit shut that thought down within seconds of it forming.  I received a wonderful revelation and received another as I was writing this blog.  God does not condemn us he forgives us and forgets everything that we repent on.  Sometimes the word will convict us on some things, but Jesus said that His joy is in us that our joy may be full.  Our spirits are not supposed to stay grieved.  God forgives us for that reason and tells us to cast our cares upon Him (1Peter 5:7); Lay our burdens at His feet (Ps.55:22).  The world tells us to let not our hearts be troubled (John 14:1)…

I know now and am so thankful that my spirit is no longer grieved.  I know that I am forgiven, that I am a Daughter of Increase and that I have inherited the Kingdom.  The second revelation I received in that my spirit is truly battling constantly against the things of the world.  I pray every morning and thank God for His full armor (Eph.6:10-18) that I keep on and am constantly ready for the spiritual battle at hand.  Had I neglected to realize that God has given me everything I need for success and had I not claimed and possessed the armor that God promised me; that thought, could and would have festered and continued to bring a false grief to my spirit that should not be there. 

Take a moment today to make sure your spirit is equipped for battle and know that you are forgiven. Let not your heart be troubled because you have the joy of the Lord!

In The Midst of it...

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust. 3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6  Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, (Psalms 91:2-9)
 
We often turn to music based on our moods. If you want to set a romantic atmosphere you might find some smooth jazz or a sweet “love song”. If we’re angry we tend to want something more hardcore to amp our mood. The blues when we’re sad and so on and so forth. We always want the world to know what kind of mood we’re in and/or what we’re going through at any given time.  Thanks to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter we can tell our 500 “friends” what going on in our lives in less than 60 seconds!  They can like your status and say they’re sorry for what you’re going through, but nine times out of ten that solves absolutely nothing. We either want everyone to attend our pity parties or we want self-gratification for something we THINK we did on our own.  Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with sharing your feelings and even sharing good news.  But sometimes we need to settle down and go to God first.  Then we can commence to telling it on the mountain, if He wants us to.  There are somethings we need to learn to keep our mouths shut about.  There is a point where I recent;y started asking myself, Lord is this just for attention or is this to give you glory.  Lord am I really gaining anything by blabbing about this?  Lord am I low-key trying to make someone jealous or boast about something?  Is my heart in the right place as I tell this news?  I love to gab and talk like most women do and God really began to convict my spirit about opening my mouth so much.  I would vent out of anger, and once I was calm, I would pray about it and feel bad that I said anything but it’s not like I can take it back.  God wants us to talk to Him and be real with Him.  Yes He already knows, but He wants us to have a desire in our hearts to tell Him everything and allow him to deal with us and/or it accordingly.
Christians, we are doing nothing but selling ourselves short if we feel like we should wait until this are “okay” to go and talk and commune with God.  He will deal with us in the midst of our trials, in the midst of our sin, in the midst of whatever situations we are in.  Psalms 91 says that God is our refuge and fortress and in HIM shall we trust. He will take us under his wing and deliver us from the snare of the fowler. It says that His truth, which is His word, will be our shield and only with our eyes will we see the reward of the wicked. If we’re taking refuge and need shields that means we are in the middle of battle family.  God didn’t say He would be our shield because it sounds nice, He said it because we should constant;y be aware of the spiritual warfare going on around and within us. Satan is always at work and he will send his demons to work on your mind first because that is our arena of faith. Once he plants a seed in our mind we tend to run with it and confess it and then he can pull his demons off because we start to do satan’s dirty work and become our own worst enemy. We confess, “oh my back is killing me!” “Oh Lord I’m so broke” and so many other negative things we speak into our lives and confess them on a daily basis. When we start to feel symptoms or things seem impossible, that’s when we should hold fast our confessions! Take refuge in the Lord and know that he will carry you through. It’s okay to need the Lord, it’s okay to have trials and tribulations. Only the “perfect Christian” doesn’t have issues…I’ll let that marinate

Don’t ever feel like you did something wrong if you are going through a rough patch. God to God, lean on the word and believe it. Have faith and know that his shield will keep the fiery darts of the wicked one (Eph.6:10-20 the armor of God) away from us.  God is not a respecter of persons so don’t count yourself out.  Take joy in the midst of a trial and seek the Lord diligently because He’s got a blessing in the midst of it all.

Self-Defense

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17 NIV)

I carry a knife in my purse and everywhere with me.  I feel like, you never can be too safe these days.  I’m always the big talker in my group about who I’ll cut and how quickly I’ll cut him.  So, I was shopping in a store a few weeks back and in my own world.  In my completely oblivious state, I didn’t notice that there was a strange man watching my every move.  Thankfully, the holy spirit stepped in and made me aware of the fact that I was being followed.  I began to walk in a very purposeful pattern around the store to ensure that it wasn’t my imagination…nope, I was being followed.  Big bad wolfess was gone and fear set in.  First I called my sister, then my boyfriend, then my sister again and I was looking for my knife and it wasn’t in my purse!  I was unarmed, alone and quickly allowing panic to settle into my spirit.  By the time I found an associate to let him know I was being followed all I could do was burst into tears, especially after he told me he’d seen the guy following me!  I was stuck in the middle of the store, a complete emotional wreck.  I had the “damsel in distress” thing going big time!

We should never be caught off guard without our weapons!  Not a weapon in the flesh, but our spiritual weapons.  Ephesians 6 talks about putting on the FULL armor of God daily.  We are always at war because we are not of this world.  If your spirit man is where it should be, then he is always ready for battle.  There are so many temptations in the world that we have no choice but to operate in the spirit and be led of the spirit if we want to get through.  Our minds are the arena for faith and satan is the enemy of our souls.  If we’re not covered satan is most definitely going to plant seeds within that arena and pretty soon you are full of fear, doubt and self destruction bondage.  I’m not saying that you need to carry a bible wherever you go to ward anything off, but know the word and meditate on it so that when things come against you, you are able to stand on the promises of God to rebuke, bind down and destroy satan’s evil yokes.  Isiah 54:17 says that NO weapon formed against thee shall prosper!  Romans 8:31 says if God is for us [then], who can be against us!  We, as spirit filled believers who are truly walking in faith, need to have the ability to call on God’s word in an urgent manner and speak to any pressing situation.  If we’re not prepared for battle, it could cost you your life…think about that!  How many enemies do you have that would stop and give you time to get your sword out and sharpen it in the middle of a battle?  In the same sense, how often are you able to stop an emergent situation so you can pull out your bible to find the right words?  It’s time to meditate, to study and to really get to know God’s word.  The last thing we want to do is be caught out there in the world without our armor and not ready for battle!

G.P.S.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  James 1:12

I was on the freeway yesterday evening, headed to the mall to meet my mom and brother.  I was going a different way than normal so I put the mall address into my GPS on my phone and updated directions from my present location.  I tend to get nervous when I’m driving, especially when it’s late, so I kept updating the directions from my current location.  At some point I was sure I had missed my turn so at the next light, I made a U-turn and was in the process of updating the directions again.  When they finally updated, it told me to make a U-turn (again) and head back north to get to the freeway I was looking for.  After I passed the light where I’d originally turned around, the very next block was the entry to the freeway…I was SOOOO close and turned around and delayed myself by 10 minutes.  Had I trusted my GPS the first time I would’ve been okay!  
So often, we do that with God’s plans for us.  We’ll say lead me Lord and we’ll go and things get a little rough, but we trust the Lord through it.  They get a little rougher, and we still trust and thank God but we start to develop a back up plan in the back of our minds.  Then when it gets shaky and we’re all sorts of uncomfortable, we turn the other way and go to whatever back-up plan we had.  What I’ve found, personally, is that I was so close to a breakthrough but I gave in to fear and missed out on my blessing!

You see satan tries to turn us around and make us lose our ground, he wants us to give up and lose faith and miss out every time. he (yes I did not capitalize on purpose because I feel satan deserves no respect!) is always ready to tempt us with an easy way out a “solution” to what we are going through.  Sure it may have shiny bells and whistles and seemingly look like a blessing, but there’s always something not quite right about the solution and you become torn or confused about which way to go.  My God is not a God of confusion (1Cor. 4:13)!  He said that he will be a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our paths (Ps. 119:105)!  That means he will make things CLEAR for us.  There is no confusion in God’s works…there is clarity, peace, joy and a presence of assurance!  
So next time you’re ready to turn around, and there’s a voice telling you just go a little further, don’t bicker with God, trust and see what just ahead at the next block.

Live like you're already there!

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

The world tells us to “Live like you’re dying” but the word tells us that we are already there!  We, as believers, are in this world, we have to abide by laws put in place and live accordingly.  However, we are not of this world and we must stop picking and choosing what biblical laws to follow.  If you’re running late for work and get stopped by a red light, are you gonna run it just this one time because you need to get to work?  I seriously doubt it because of the fear of getting pulled over and ticketed for breaking the law.  In the same manner that we have respect for the laws of man, we need to have respect and fear for God’s law and what the word says.  If there’s a red light and the Holy Spirit is saying that you shouldn’t go just yet (and maybe not at all), don’t try your luck just this one time…just don’t do it!  Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.”  That means that we need to walk in the spirit and seek God in all of our decisions, we need to be consistently obedient, and in constant prayer.

The world tells us in Romans 6:4 (above) that when we were baptized we were buried with Christ and just as Christ raised from the dead, we did as well through the baptism and we now walk in the spirit in the newness of life!  1 John 4:17 says that as He is so are we.  Christ Died, was buried and rose again!  In the same way, through being born again and baptized our old self died – That ol’ girl died, that good for nothing man is dead – was buried and we rose again in the newness of life!  God wants us to have his best.  We are heirs and joint heirs with Christ!  We don’t have to “Live like we’re dying…” Family we already died and rose again and have been walking with Christ.  We have arrived…we’re already there!  There’s no need to “Live like you’re dying” we should be Living like we are already there!  Have a blessed and highly favored day family!

Faith Equals Works

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (James 2:14)"

As a believer, the word Faith should be considered a verb. From the beginning it's all about our works and how our works transform after we've been saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit.  When you accepted Jesus into your heart you took a step out on faith, you choose to believe, you walk in faith daily and in challenges you make a choice, you fall into the ways of the world or you trust in God and step out in faith on any given situation.
When you pay your tithe you're stepping out on faith, especially if your finances are challenged at all. Being obedient in attending church and bible study is a work, giving someone a good word of encouragement is works. All of us that are an active part of a prayer/fellowship group, whether it be online or meeting in person are doing a good work because we are uplifting, fellow-shipping, encouraging and even educating (in love) one another on how to inherit the fullness of God! All the small stuff counts. Giving someone some spare change and speaking a blessing on them is good works...and the list goes on. We have all been called to be disciples, prophets & priests in the kingdom. We don't need a pulpit, a long sermon or even a formal setting to be a disciple. So if we change our mindset on Faith and know that Faith isn't just a dormant word it is a action as well, we will see how we use our Faith everyday! With that mindset it will continue to grow your faith and you will begin to do bigger works without even thinking about it or even realizing it at times because you have been so consciously walking in it that you keep pushing and the training wheels fall off without fazing us!

F - Firm
A - Acclamations
I - Invoking
T - The
H - Holy Spirit