Shalom,

Today's "Faith Food" devotional by Kenneth E. Hagin is another of my favorites!

Thanksgiving

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. — PSALM 107:21-22

The forefathers of the United States set aside a day each year to offer thanks to God for His blessings on them in this new world. He had blessed them both spiritually and materially.

We should also offer thanksgiving to God for the spiritual and material blessings of life He has bestowed upon us. And we should thank God for His loving protection and care for us.

This Thanksgiving season, let’s look into God’s Word to see what He has to say about “the giving of thanks.” We’ll look into the New Testament, because we live under the New Covenant, to see what the New Covenant says we are to give thanks for.

Confession: I praise the Lord for His goodness. I sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing. I thank Him for the spiritual and material blessings in life. I thank God for His protection and care.

AMEN! I challenge you to take account of the blessings that YOU have received this year and THANK YOUR PROVIDER for all that HE has done! When you do, even more is on its way! You CANNOT outgive GOD! Here is Brandon Lake with "Too Good To Not Believe":

Shalom in Him! 

Shalom,

In today's Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan I was most encouraged with Psalm 139:1-18:

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me.
2 You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off.
3 You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue [still unuttered], but, behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
5 You have beset me and shut me in—behind and before, and You have laid Your hand upon me.
6 Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it.
7 Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only] light about me,
12 Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.
13 For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You.

When you and I don't simply READ these words, but MEDITATE on them, we will see more clearly than we have ever seen before! We will understand more clearly than we have ever understood before! We will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit of the Living God more than we ever have before and we will be more equipped than we have ever been before to be DOERS of the WORD, receiving the rewards of the WORD in our lives! Here is Joshua 1:8 to remind us HOW to MEDITATE.

8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

The word 'meditate' here is the Hebrew word 'hagah', which means to:To meditate, to murmur, to ponder, to speak, to utter, to muse. When we do this, we arre able to put this into practice, giving Holy Spirit something to work with to bring about our BLESSING in every area! Here is Brooke Ligertwood and Brandon Lake with "Honey In The Rock":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I LOVE today's "Faith Food" devotional by Kenneth E. Hagin!

The Sent Word

He sent his word, and healed them . . . . — PSALM 107:20

An unsaved uncle of mine once contacted my mother. He wanted her to get in touch with me so I would pray for his daughter, who was dying. I told Momma when he called back to tell him that I said my cousin would live and not die.

“Oh, son, have you heard from the Lord?” Momma asked. (She knew the Lord sometimes told me things.)

“Yes, I heard from the Lord. She will live and not die,” I assured her.

“Praise the Lord. That’s fine.”

“Yes, I heard from the Lord in Mark 11:23.”

“Oh,” she said, her voice dropping in disappointment.

People put more emphasis on some kind of manifestation than they do the Word. Don’t do that. Put the Word first.

When I told Momma again what to tell my uncle, she said, “Do you suppose it will work, Son?”

“Certainly, it will work! Will the multiplication table work? No one ever says, ‘I don’t know if I’ve got enough faith to work the multiplication table. If you’ll work the multiplication table, it will work. And if you’ll work Mark 11:23, it will work. It’s the Word that does it.’”

That’s where some miss it. They think they’re going to have to perform. No, God does it. All we’re to do is what the Word tells us to do.

Confession: God’s Word works. I act on it, and it works for me.

AMEN! Here are Brooke Ligertwood with "Honey In The Rock":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share again from Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest" devotional!

Still Human!

Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. — 1 Corinthians 10:31

The great marvel of the Incarnation slips into ordinary childhood’s life; the great marvel of the Transfiguration vanishes in the devil-possessed valley; the glory of the Resurrection descends into a breakfast on the sea-shore. This is not an anticlimax, but a great revelation of God.

The tendency is to look for the marvellous in our experience; we mistake the sense of the heroic for being heroes. It is one thing to go through a crisis grandly, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us. If we do not want medieval haloes, we want something that will make people say — “What a wonderful man of prayer he is!” “What a pious devoted woman she is!” If you are rightly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the sublime height where no one ever thinks of noticing you, all that is noticed is that the power of God comes through you all the time.

“Oh, I have had a wonderful call from God!” It takes Almighty God Incarnate in us to do the meanest* duty to the glory of God. It takes God’s Spirit in us to make us so absolutely humanly His that we are utterly unnoticeable. The test of the life of a saint is not success, but faithfulness in human life as it actually is. We will set up success in Christian work as the aim; the aim is to manifest the glory of God in human life, to live the life hid with Christ in God in human conditions. Our human relationships are the actual conditions in which the ideal life of God is to be exhibited.

*mean: as used here, something or someone ordinary, common, low, or ignoble, rather than cruel or spiteful.

AMEN! Remember, every GOOD thing about YOU came from HIM! Let's continue to bring GLORY to HIS NAME! Here is Brooke Ligertwood with "What A Beautiful Name":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today we read John 13 in our Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan. Look at verse 1:

[Now] before the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and to the highest degree.

Do you really understand what this verse is saying? JESUS KNEW what He was facing! He KNEW that He would be beaten, whipped and sourged, mocked, would have a 'crown' made with 3 inch long thorns smashed down upon His head, would have people around him taking his clothing, be nailed by His wrists and feet to a wooden cross, be forced upright with the cross dropped into a hole, be surrounded by many people who did not believe that He was Who He said He was. And THAT was NOT the worst! He KNEW that He would take upon Himself OUR sin! He would BECOME SIN with OUR SIN so that His FATHER, Who could not look upon sin, would have to turn His back on HIM! When JESUS said "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me" He was announcing the moment that OUR sin was put upon HIM! Why did He do that? LOVE!!! HE took upon HIMSELF what WE could NEVER atone for! HE became SIN with OUR SIN so that OUR SIN could be taken AWAY from US! HALLELUJAH! There IS no greater LOVE than THIS! 

I hope that YOU have received this FREE GIFT that JESUS so willingly gave! THAT is the SCOPE of HIS LOVE for YOU!!! Here is Hillsong with "Grace To Grace":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share again from Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food" devotional. This lesson explains the prayer of agreement!

Agreement

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. — MATTHEW 18:19

You won’t be able to get someone healed if you’re believing that they will live, but they’re believing they will die! There’s no agreement there. When praying for others, it is important to get them to agree.

Usually, when someone comes to me with a prayer request, I say (if I can agree with it), “Let’s join hands now and agree. Listen while I pray, and agree with my prayer. Because if we both pray at once and we don’t pay attention to each other, you may be praying in one direction and I may be praying in another.”

Once a woman came for prayer for a financial need. I prayed, “Father, we agree concerning the one hundred dollars this family needs by the first of next month. We agree that by the first of the month they’ll have this extra one hundred dollars. You said that if two of you agree as touching anything they ask, it shall be done. We agree that it is done, and we thank You for it now, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.”

I looked at the woman and asked, “Is it done?”

She started crying, “I hope it is,” she said.

It wasn’t. There was no agreement.

Confession: If there are two of us . . . and we’re on earth . . . and we agree as touching anything we ask in line with God’s Word . . . it shall be done for us of our Father in Heaven!

AMEN! I have heard it put this way: The prayer of agreement will only go as high as the lowest level of faith! This verse actually means: make a symphony together! Two (or more) people MUST be believing in faith for the same thing for it to actually be a prayer of agreement! The answer: KNOW the WORD and then find others who also KNOW the WORD and agree with them! GOD will do the rest! Here is Brandon Lake with "Too Good Not To Believe":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share my favorite verse from yesterday's Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan! 

John 10:10 AMPC The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

We may have read it yesterday in our schedule, but this verse, and ALL of God's Word, is for EVERYDAY! Read it, meditate on it, speak it, DO it and then tell the world what GOD and HIS WORD have done for YOU! Here is Brandon Lake with "Praise You Anywhere":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share this from our partners Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's "From Faith To Faith" devotional.

OPEN THE FLOW

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:1-2

Disciplining the flesh. For many believers that phrase stirs memories of frustration and failure. They know it's important—the Word of God clearly teaches that. But they're not sure exactly how to go about it.

Some have given up, shrugging off such discipline as impossible. Others are still fighting stubbornly to get their flesh under control—and losing one battle after another.

But it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, we can't afford to let it be that way. It will cost us too much.

You and I are blessed to be part of the generation that will see the signs and wonders which the prophets of old wished they could have lived long enough to see. We will witness the Spirit of God poured out upon all flesh. But sin hinders the Spirit's flow. And only as we rid ourselves of it will the power and glory of God be manifest through us. Only then will we experience the glorious things that are prophesied to take place in our generation.

So put your past failure behind you. Make up your mind that you're not going to let the sins of the flesh rob you of the glory of God. It is possible to step out of the sin you've struggled with so long and live under the Spirit's control. Look to Jesus...He will show you how.

AMEN! TRUST HIM! No one wants to see YOU blessed ,more than JESUS does! Here is Brooke Ligertwood and Brandon Lake with "Honey In The Rock":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I think that the devotional on The Spoken Word Church website is EXCELLENT!

Stay in the Center of Your Expertise

Even in your mother's womb you were given by God special gifts, talents and skills. What you enjoy doing the most is a clue to what God wants you to do with your life. Start today to build your daily agenda around this assignment.

"Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called." (1 Corinthians 7:20)

AMEN! BE who GOD has called YOU to be! Here is Brandon Lake with "Talking To Jesus":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share Joseph Prince's "Daily Grace Inspirations" devotional!

The Crux of the Real Gospel

Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Galatians 3:5–6

We know that preaching, hearing, and believing the gospel are so important because they unleash God’s power to save us from every area of defeat in life. But how do we know if we are hearing the real gospel? What sets the true gospel apart from every other “gospel”?

To answer this question, let’s go to the book of Jude. Apostle Jude tells us to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). What is “the faith” here that the church is to contend earnestly for?

My friend, when you hear the word faith mentioned in the New Testament, it refers to “justification by faith”—how one is made righteous before God based solely on his faith in Christ Jesus. This is the crux of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why the gospel is called “good news” and this is what sets it apart from all the false gospels.

Unfortunately, what many preach today is hardly good news, because justification by faith has been subtly replaced with justification by works. Yes, they may tell you that you are saved by grace through faith, but then in the same breath they corrupt the simplicity of the gospel by saying that you stay saved or get blessed through works. You’ll also hear about all sorts of things that you need to do for God in order to be qualified through right living. Now, right living is certainly important, but that is not the gospel. Also, right living comes by believing right in the gospel.

The crux of the gospel is not right living or good works, but justification by faith. And the apostle Jude tells us to contend earnestly for this. That term is translated from one Greek word, epagonizomai, from which the English word agony is derived. In other words, epagonizomai literally means “to agonize for.” We are to agonize for the faith! We are to fight for the truth that we are justified by faith and not works. This is the real gospel.

What else does the Bible say about the gospel we are to preach? Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ” What is supposed to be revealed in the gospel? Not our sins, as many are fond of preaching, but the righteousness of God! Only hearing about the grace of God and how we are righteous by faith in Christ will set us free from our struggles with sin, addiction, and bondage.

Romans 1:17 also tells us that this righteousness of God that we have in Christ is revealed from “faith to faith” and that the just “shall live by faith.” Can you see this powerful truth? It’s not this idea that once you are saved by grace through faith, you move on to works and watch your performance to maintain your salvation. Many Christians experience abundant joy when they are saved, only to lose that joy quickly when they are told, “Now that you’re saved, you need to work to please God in order to stay saved.”

No, my friend, it’s from faith to faith to faith to faith . . . all the way until we see Jesus face-to-face! This doesn’t mean that there is no place for good works or living a holy life. These are by-products of living from faith to faith. They will be evident in your life when you live believing that you are justified, made righteous, and blessed through faith in Christ. This is the good news that God’s Word exhorts us to fight for—righteousness by faith in Christ alone!

AMEN!!! So let's get IN FAITH and SPEAK FAITH and expect in FAITH! Here is Brandon Lake with "Tear Off The Roof":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I am sharing from Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food" devotional again because no one says it better!

Praying And Saying

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. — MARK 11:24

Faith will work by saying without praying (notice Mark 11:23 doesn’t mention praying), but faith also works by prayer.

However, when you pray it, you still have to say (or confess) it.

Let me repeat that: Faith will work by SAYING it, or it will work by PRAYING it, but when you PRAY it, you still have to SAY it.

Mark 11:23 and 24 brought me off a bed of sickness many years ago. After I had prayed, then I began to say (not think) out loud in my room, “I believe that I receive healing for my body.” Then I specified each thing that was wrong with me: “I believe I receive healing for the heart condition. I believe I receive healing for this paralysis. I believe I receive healing for the incurable blood disease.”

And just in case I had missed anything, I concluded, “I believe that I receive healing from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.”

Within the hour every symptom of physical deficiency disappeared from my body, and I was standing on the floor beside the bed — healed!

Confession: What things soever I desire, when I pray, I believe that I receive them. I confess what I believe. I hold fast to my confession. And I never fail to receive them.

AMEN! Remember, YOU can have what YOU say! So start talking! Here is Brandon Lake with "Graves Into Gardens":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today's "Faith Food" deovtional by Kenneth E. Hagin is VITAL for walking and living in FAITH!

Feelings

. . . For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. — HEBREWS 13:5

A woman came up to me at the close of a service where I had taught on faith. She was crying almost hysterically. She said, “Brother Hagin, pray for me!”

“What is the matter?” I asked.

“It seems like the Lord has forsaken me!”

“What awful sin have you committed to make the Lord forsake you?”

“As far as I know, I haven’t done anything,” she said. “It just seems like the presence of the Lord is gone from me.”

“The Bible doesn’t say we walk by ‘seems like,’” I explained to her. “It says we walk by faith. And God’s Word says that the Lord will never leave you, nor forsake you.”

“I know that,” she cried, “but it just seems like He has.”

“You have more faith in ‘seems like’ than you have in the Bible.”

“But I know what I feel!” she said, almost angrily.

“Yes,” I said, “but I know my Jesus. Jesus said it, and I believe it. We cannot be concerned by what we feel.”

If you start believing right, thinking right, and talking right, it won’t be long until you’ll be feeling right!

Confession: Jesus will never leave me, nor forsake me. He said it. I believe it. And I say it.

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Hard Fought Hallelujah!":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share again from Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food" devotional! 

A Good Report

And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. — NUMBERS 13:30

And Joshua . . . and Caleb . . . spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it,
is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. — NUMBERS 14:6-9

Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who had a good report. They didn’t deny that giants were in Canaan; they simply added that the children of Israel would be able to overcome the giants.

“We are well able to overcome them,” they said, “for the Lord is with us!” That was their good report.

Similarly, we believers must not stick our heads in the sand like ostriches and deny that problems and difficulties exist in our lives. Yes, the “giants” are there — but we are well able to overcome them, because the Lord is with us!

When you face the giants of life, don’t have a negative confession. Don’t talk doubt and have an evil report. Faith always has a good report!

Confession: I am well able to overcome the giants in my life — because the Lord is with me! Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.

AMEN! DARE to be like Joshua and Caleb in evry area of YOUR life! KNOW the promises of God for every situation and then REFUSE to give in to fear and intimidation! GOD'S GOT THIS! Here is Brandon Lake with "Count 'Em":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today's "Faith Food" devotional by Kenneth E. Hagin is another very valuable lesson!

Evil Report

. . . We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature . . . giants . . . and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. — NUMBERS 13:31-33

Israel came out of Egypt and to the border of Canaan, to a place called Kadesh-barnea. From there they sent twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan. And the Bible says that ten of those spies brought back “an evil report.”

What is an evil report? It is a report of doubt. (A believer has no more business peddling doubt than he does peddling dope!)

God had already told the children of Israel that He had given them this land flowing with milk and honey. They acknowledged that it was, indeed, a land flowing with milk and honey. “BUT,” they complained, “there are giants in the land, and we are not able to take it!”

The children of Israel confessed what they believed. They believed they couldn’t succeed. Then they said, “We can’t.” And they received exactly what they said! Israel accepted the majority report — the evil report — and said they couldn’t take the land. And Israel got exactly what they said: God did not allow that generation to take the land.

Jesus said in Mark 11:23 that you will have whatever you say.

Confession: I refuse to be a doubt peddler. I refuse to have an evil report!

Make this committment in your life! REFUSE every evil report! What do I believe? I believe the report of the LORD! I hope that YOU will, too! Here is Brandon Lake and Phil Wickham with "Love of God":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

The blog has been spotty lately because I had to replace my computer. I am almost finished getting it set up, so I should be able to post every day again! Today I want to share this from Jerry Savelle Ministries!

A Fully Committed Heart

For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV

Do you need God to show Himself strong on your behalf today? He has made a promise that He will deliver you if your heart is fully committed to Him.

The first commandment is to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (see Mark 12:30). God wants all of you, not just a part of you. He wants you to be fully committed to Him, not just 99% committed. Something significant happens in the spiritual realm when you give 100% to God, with no reservation.

Mark 4 talks about the desire for other things that can grow up around us and choke us. What is filling your mind today? Are you meditating on God and His Word, or are your thoughts on other things? When you make a decision regarding how to spend your time or your money, what influences the outcome? Is it what the Holy Spirit tells you or is it other things?

God is a good God and His plans for you are to give you a hope and a future (see Jeremiah 29:11). He will never withhold any good thing from you (see Psalm 84:11). The best decision you can ever make is to fully commit your heart to God and His plan for your life.

When you love God and your heart is fully committed, you will be able to yield completely to Him. When your heart is fully committed to Him, He is bound by His Word to show Himself strong on your behalf. He has promised to deliver you, and He will do it.

Confession: Lord, I fully commit my heart to you now. I will go anywhere You want me to go and do anything You want me to do. I give you permission to change me according to Your plan and purpose for my life. I am yours; do in me whatever You want to do.

AMEN! Now THIS is the kind of commottment that GOD is looking for! nWhy? Because this puts YOU inposition to receive His blessings and gives HIM the access He needs to bless others through you! HALLELUJAH! Here is Brandon Lake with "Count 'Em":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

We read Psalm 122 in our Spoken Word Bible Reading Plan for today and every time I read this I am reminded of our trip to Jerusalem in 2010! 

Psalm 122

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the Lord!

2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!—

3 Jerusalem, which is built as a city that is compacted together—

4 To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed and as a testimony for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

5 For there the thrones of judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper who love you [the Holy City]!

7 May peace be within your walls and prosperity within your palaces!

8 For my brethren and companions’ sake, I will now say, Peace be within you!

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek, inquire for, and require your good.

PRAY for the nation of Israel, GOD'S nation; and the city of JERUSALEM, GOD'S city! That is NOT a suggestion, it is a COMMAND from GOD! Here is Brooke Ligertwood with "Ancient Gates":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today's "Daily Grace Inspirations" devotional by Joseph Prince is POWERFUL!

Salvation in the Name of Jesus

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. 2 Timothy 4:18

Psalm 91 ends with the power-packed verse, “With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.”

Many years ago, the Lord opened my eyes to see that apart from the four names of God that are mentioned in the first two verses of Psalm 91, there is another name of God, a fifth name, concealed in the very last word of Psalm 91.

You see, in Hebrew, the word “salvation” is the word yeshua. And Yeshua is the Hebrew name of our Lord Jesus! Now, isn’t that beautiful?

This is what God was saying: “With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My Yeshua.” Long life is found in our Yeshua. You can know God as El Elyon, God Most High, as the Almighty Shaddai, as Jehovah, and even as Elohim, but the name that gives you full and utter confidence is the name Jesus!

It is not enough to know that God is all-powerful. It is more important you know that God is willing to use His power and might to save you!

That’s what our Lord Jesus did at the cross for you and me. He came and He showed us His salvation by sacrificing Himself on the cross for your sins and my sins. He died young that we may live long. And not just live long in this world.

At the cross, He purchased for us the gift of eternal life, paid for with His own blood. The moment you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your salvation in Him was sure and secure!

I grew up in a church where I was taught that when you sin, you will lose your salvation and have to get born again all over again. This erroneous teaching oppressed my mind day and night. The enemy incessantly attacked me with thoughts that I had lost my salvation.

As I was seeking the Lord for answers one day, He opened my eyes and pointed me to the above Scripture passage from 2 Timothy.

Just like that, when the truth of God’s Word came in, all the oppression left me. And every time the thought that I had lost my salvation reared its ugly head again, I would quote this verse, boldly declaring, “It is written, ‘And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.’”

Beloved, I highly recommend that you meditate on this Scripture. In this one verse you find the Lord’s protection and preservation unto eternity!

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Coat Of Many Colors":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I love today's devotional on The Spoken Word Church website!

Focus on Priorities

Let's pray this prayer together: Father, I set myself in agreement that the will of God shall be done today. In my government. In my local church. On my job. Within my home and family.

You see my written list of things to do. You know the people I am meeting today. Remove those who do not belong on my schedule. I speak to the north, the south, east and west and call forth from the shadows of my life those you have intended to be linked with me.

Father, your priorities are mine. Your will shall be done. I am led by your peace, filled with your joy and controlled by the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10)

Amen! Here is Brooke Ligertwood with "Fear Of God":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today we read the shortest chapter in the Bible and a very powerful one! Psalm 117:

1 O praise the Lord, all you nations! Praise Him, all you people! 2 For His mercy and loving-kindness are great toward us, and the truth and faithfulness of the Lord endure forever. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

What a powerful promise! Let's learn to LIVE in this and rejoice continually! Here, to help you with that, is Brandon Lake with "That's Who I Praise":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share "My Utmost For His Highest" devotional by Oswald Chambers:

The External Crush Of Things

I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. — 1 Corinthians 9:22

A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s noble man or woman amid a crowd of ignoble things. Never make this plea — “If only I were somewhere else!” All God’s men are ordinary men made extraordinary by the matter He has given them. Unless we have the right matter in our minds intellectually and in our hearts affectionately, we will be hustled out of usefulness to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no matter in them of God’s almighty grace, no matter of His mighty word. Paul’s whole heart and mind and soul were taken up with the great matter of what Jesus Christ came to do, he never lost sight of that one thing. We have to face ourselves with the one central fact — Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

“I have chosen you.” Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. Here, in this College, God is at work, bending, breaking, moulding, doing just as He chooses. Why He is doing it, we do not know; He is doing it for one purpose only — that He may be able to say, “This is My man, My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can plant men on the Rock as He has planted us.

Never choose to be a worker, but when God has put His call on you, woe be to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left. He will do with you what He never did with you before the call came; He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.

AMEN! Every one who has received Jesus as Lord and Saviour has a God given assignment! Something that HE has equipped and prepared us for from before the foundation of the world! BE the BEST YOU for HIM! Here is Brandon Lake with "Coat Of Many Colors":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I found that today's "Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2" devotional by our partner, Rick Renner, is very informative!

What Is An Apostle

And He Himself gave some to be apostles…. — Ephesians 4:11 NKJV

When I was growing up, I was told there was no such thing as a living apostle. Our denomination taught that all the apostles died at the end of the “Apostolic Age” — along with miracles, signs and wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit! To my young mind, the term “apostle” belonged to a group of 12 legendary men who walked with Jesus 2,000 years ago. Once they died, that was the end of that!

But over the past decades, we have learned that much denominational teaching was wrong. Miracles, signs, wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit are still “alive and well.” Prophets, also previously considered relics of the past, are recognized and honored. No one would argue that the Church is also blessed with fiery evangelists, powerful pastors, and profoundly God-gifted teachers. But now — at the end of the age — it is finally being recognized that the apostolic gift still exists.

The apostolic gift has always been around, but the theology I grew up hearing wouldn’t sanction someone being called an apostle. To call someone an apostle seemed ludicrous and arrogant. Everyone “just knew” there was no such thing as an apostle — and to call a person by this name was almost considered a blasphemous insult to the first 12 apostles.

So thanks to our scholarly ancestors who read and spoke Latin, we reverted to calling apostles by the Latin name missionaries. But “missionary” is not a correct term in this context. The only reason we called apostles missionaries was the fear of retribution for calling them apostles, as they often should have been called.

I am not implying that everyone who is a missionary is an apostle. Some people are called to be missionaries — people who sense a need to go on a mission to help the work of God. This work is very beneficial and needful, but it does not in itself constitute an apostolic call. Often these are truly missionaries and not apostles — people sent by the local church or their denomination to help in some way on the mission field.

An apostolic call originates in a divine revelation and encounter with Jesus Christ. As Paul said, his calling was “…not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ….” (Galatians 1:1). These precious apostolic gifts may not have always been recognized as apostles, but they have always been present in the Church throughout history, and they are present and active in the Church in this hour. Ephesians 4:11-13 says that all the fivefold ministry gifts — including the apostle — will be present and active “till we all come in the unity of the faith….”

The Church of Jesus Christ cannot reach full maturity unless all of these Christ-given gifts are imparting their unique portions to the Church. Like the other fivefold ministry gifts, the gift of apostleship is an essential element to carry the Church upward to her destiny as a “…glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing…” (Ephesians 5:27).

But before we go any further into this teaching about the role of apostles in today’s world, let’s back up and study where this word apostle comes from. Today we’ll look at the Greek meaning of the word, and tomorrow we’ll look at the various historical usages of this word “apostle” in New Testament times. You may be very surprised to see the various ways this word was used and how they all had application to a New Testament apostle.

The Greek word for “apostle” is apostolos, which is a compound of the words apo and stello. The preposition apo means away, and the word stello means to send. When the two words are combined, they form the word apostolos, meaning one who is sent away. This Greek word appears 79 times in the New Testament. The root of apostolos is the word apostello, a word that appears no less than 131 times in the New Testament and more than 700 times in the Old Testament Greek Septuagint.

At first, it may seem that the definition of this word apostolos — one who is sent away — denoted one who had been dismissed, set aside, or rejected. However, this word didn’t refer to a person sent away in dishonor or disgrace. Rather, the word apostolos was a term of great honor that referred to a person who was personally selected, commissioned, and sent on an assignment on behalf of a very powerful government or individual. This person wasn’t merely sent off; he was empowered, invested with authority, and then dispatched to accomplish a special task.

So when we talk about apostles, we are discussing individuals who are appointed, empowered, invested with authority by the Lord, and then dispatched to do a special task. And their task is the establishing of the Christian community in places where it had not existed heretofore.

There is a lot for us to see on this subject, so tomorrow we’ll look more deeply at the historical meaning of the word “apostle.” I pray these Sparkling Gems will open your eyes to a greater understanding of this gift and how desperately we need this gift to be active in the Body of Christ today!

AMEN! I LOVE these devotionals! There is SO much information that helps make clear our personal Bible study! I hope you were blessed by this, too! Here is Brooke Ligertwood with "Bless God"

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I am sharing again from Joseph Prince's Daily Grace Inspirations deovtional.

Know Your Covenant Rights in Christ

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6

I cannot emphasize enough how vitally important it is for a believer today to know that he is under the new covenant of God’s unmerited favor and no longer under the law. Many good, well-meaning, and sincere believers today are defeated by their lack of knowledge of the new covenant and all the benefits that Jesus has purchased for them at the cross.

“But Pastor Prince, we should not be looking at benefits when we believe in Jesus.”

I am glad that you brought up this point. Let’s look at what the psalmist thinks about this: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's” (Psalm 103:1–5).

Beloved, this is the heart of God. He wants you to remember all the benefits that Jesus has purchased for you with His blood! It is His heart to see you enjoying every single benefit, every single blessing, and every single favor from Him in the new covenant of His grace.

Forgiveness of sin is yours. Health is yours. Divine protection is yours. Favor is yours. Good things and the renewal of youth are yours!

These are all precious gifts from the Lord to you, and it brings Him unspeakable joy when He sees you enjoying these gifts and succeeding in life. But it is the lack of knowledge of what Jesus has accomplished at the cross that has robbed many believers of enjoying these good gifts and benefits.

This reminds me of a story I read of a man who visited an impoverished old lady who was dying. As he sat next to her bed in the cramped confines of her dilapidated home, a single frame hanging on her spartan wall caught his attention.

Instead of a picture, the frame held a yellowed piece of paper with some writing on it. He asked the lady about that piece of paper and she replied, “Well, I can’t read, so I don’t know what it says. But a long time ago, I used to work for a very wealthy man who had no family. Just before he died, he gave me this piece of paper and I’ve kept it in remembrance of him for the past 40 or 50 years now.”

The man took a closer look at the framed contents, hesitated for a moment, then said, “Do you know that this is actually the will and testament of that man? It names you as the sole beneficiary of all his wealth and property!”

For close to 50 years, that lady had lived in abject poverty, working day and night to eke out a meager existence for herself. During all this time, she was actually the owner of a sprawling estate and enviable riches. However, her own ignorance had utterly robbed her of a life of wealth and luxury that she could have enjoyed.

It is a sad story, but what is even sadder is that this tragedy is played out every day in the lives of believers who do not realize the inheritance that Jesus bequeathed them when He gave up His life at the cross.

What we need today are not more laws to govern believers. What we need is a greater revelation and appreciation of Jesus and everything that He has done for us! In Hosea 4:6, God lamented, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

Let’s not be numbered among these people. Instead, let us be a people who are full of the knowledge of Jesus, His person, His love, and His finished work.

Don't allow your ignorance to rob you anymore. Find out all about your covenant rights in Christ today!

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Praise You Anywhere":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share from Jerry Savelle Ministries devotional!

Success Is a Decision

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8 NKJV

Success begins with a decision to succeed. In turn, that decision will produce an unwavering commitment to do what it takes to do two things.

The first is to discover the spiritual laws relevant to your challenge. Simply put, this means to get wisdom: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom” (Proverbs 4:7 NKJV). The second is to diligently apply these laws and wisdom through to complete victory.

God’s will for you is success, but success doesn’t just happen. That’s why He shows you in His Word how to make things happen.

If you do not believe and act according to His Word, there is nothing He can do about it. However, when you do your part, He has to do His part. I like to say it this way: We get to do the easy part and God gets to do the impossible part.

For example, the Bible says, “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:26 NKJV). In other words, you can’t promote yourself; only God can make it happen. But you can make the decision to succeed by getting wisdom and then acting on the Word by choosing to become a servant.

When you make the decision to apply the Word of God to your situation, God promises that you will make your way prosperous and have good success.

Confession: I make the decision to succeed today. I make an unwavering commitment to do what it takes to get wisdom concerning the spiritual laws relevant to my challenge, and then to apply them through to complete victory.

AMEN! I LOVE this verse! THIS is the WAY to get the Word of God IN us in abundance! Let's GO! Here is Hillsong with "Say The Word":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share again from Joseph Prince's "Daily Grace Inspirations" devotional!

Perfection Is Not Required

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21

When I was a young Christian, I was a victim of a flawed, legalistic teaching based on a misinterpretation of the apostle Paul’s teaching on the holy Communion in 1 Corinthians 11:27–30:

“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”

I was taught and warned, as perhaps you were, that if there was any sin in my life, including ones I didn’t know about or had forgotten to confess, that sin made me unworthy to partake of the holy Communion. I would bring judgment and sickness on myself, and I might even die before my time!

But how could I ever know if I was “worthy” enough? I was not living in sin or anything like that, but I knew that to God, sin is sin, and if anyone fails in even one area, he is counted guilty of all (James 2:10).

As a result, I was so fearful of the Communion I did not partake of it for many years. After all, I was no fool. Why would I risk it?

I was robbed of my inheritance because of well-meaning but erroneous preaching that put an invisible fence around what was meant to be a source of health and healing and a blessing for God’s people. A fence was put around it saying, “Don’t come near unless you are worthy.”

Don’t be robbed like I was.

This is what the Word of God says: Jesus’ blood has already been shed for us, and as believers, we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). We are completely righteous and worthy not because we are perfect, but because He is perfect.

He paid the full price for the forgiveness of our sins, which alone makes us worthy. His sacrifice at the cross has fully qualified us to receive His healing and victory over sin and every kind of bondage that is robbing us of health and life.

AMEN! What GREAT GOOD NEWS this is! Refuse to be intimidated by a lying enemy who's only goal is to keep you FROM God! Here is Brandon Lake with "God Is Not Against Me":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today's "From Faith To Faith"  devotional by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland is a favorite! 

Prescription for Life

If any one intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and...follow with Me. For whoever wants to save his [higher, spiritual, eternal] life, will lose it...and whoever gives up his life [which is lived only on earth] for My sake and the Gospel's will save [it].  Mark 8:34-35, The Amplified Bible

When Jesus said those words, He wasn't just giving us a prescription for getting to heaven. He was telling us how to live a superior life right here on earth.

You see, there's a high life that we can live right here, right now. But to get in on it, we have to lay down the way of life that most of us are accustomed to. We may have to let go of the very things we've been trying so hard to latch on to. We have to set our hearts instead on doing what God wants us to do.

That's what Jesus did. He didn't live His life for Himself. He lived it completely for God. He did only what the Father told Him to do—and He lived in total victory.

It's time to realize that getting born again is not something we do just to miss hell. Our purpose is to please God—to lay down our lives in order to fulfill His desires. To be His special possessions in the earth and to do whatever He tells us to do. Our top priority is to give ourselves to Him and to live in communication with Him. To spend enough time with Him that we can hear His voice and respond in obedience.

Only when we do that will we be genuinely fulfilled. Only when we do that will we be able to live the high life we've been longing for.

Let's CHOOSE to live THIS LIFE as JESUS instruct us in His Word! THAT will TRULY be a LIFE worth LIVING! Here is Brandon Lake with "Gratitude":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Here is today's "Faith Food" devotional by Kenneth E. Hagin!

A Demand

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. — HEBREWS 11:6

God demands faith of us.

Now, if God demands that we have faith when it is impossible for us to have faith, then we have a right to challenge His justice. But if God places in our hands the means whereby faith can be produced, then the responsibility is up to us as to whether we have faith or not.

God has given us His Word, and He has told us that, “. . . faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

F. F. Bosworth, an authority on healing and the author of the classic Christ the Healer, said, “Most Christians feed their bodies three hot meals a day, their spirits one cold snack a week, and then wonder why they are so weak in faith.”

Confession: I will please my Heavenly Father. I will walk in faith. I will feed my faith regularly on the faith food God has put into my hands.

AMEN! THIS is the LEAST we can do for our Heavenly Father after all that HE has done for us! Here is Brandon Lake with "Turnaround":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share this from Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food" devotional!

Faith Food

But he [Jesus] answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. — MATTHEW 4:4

Here, Jesus is using a natural human term to convey a spiritual thought. He is saying that what bread, or food, is to the body, the Word of God is to the spirit, or heart, of man.

You can feed your spirit. You can feed your faith. God’s Word is faith food.

Smith Wigglesworth, the great English preacher under whose ministry fourteen people were reportedly raised from the dead, is called an apostle of faith. He said, “I never consider myself thoroughly dressed unless I have my New Testament in my pocket. I would as soon go out without my shoes as without my Bible!”

In Wigglesworth’s travels over the world, he stayed in many homes. People have reported that after each meal, even in restaurants, he would push back from the table, get out his Testament, and say, “We have fed the body; now let’s feed the inward man.” Then Wigglesworth would read something about faith, usually winding up giving a little faith message.

Confession: I live by every Word of God. I feed my faith. I feed my inward man. I feed on faith food — God’s Word!

AMEN! Let's LIVE as the people of FAITH that we are! Let's tell somebody about JESUS! With and without words! Here is Brandon Lake with "Talking To Jesus":

Shalom in Him

Shalom,

Today I want to share Rick Renner's "Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2":

The Cross - Foolishness or the Power of God?

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto we which are saved it is the power of God.” — 1 Corinthians 1:18

Since Jesus rose from the dead, different people have responded differently to the preaching of the Cross. Some reject it, while others receive the message by faith and thus experience the power of God. Paul referred to this dichotomy of response when he wrote, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto we which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

The word “foolishness” in this verse is from the word moria, which means foolish, stupid, or unintelligent and describes unacceptable behavior, thought, or speech. From this word moria, we derive the word moron. To the Greek and Roman mind, to believe in Christ and in His Cross alone as the way to salvation was the belief of a moron. This kind of exclusive and “narrow” behavior, thought, or speech was simply unacceptable. When confronted with the message of the Gospel, a pagan of that time would have forthrightly exclaimed, “It is stupid, unintelligent, and unacceptable to believe that Jesus is the only way to God.

Paul continued in First Corinthians 1:18, saying, “…Unto we which are saved it is the power of God.” The word “power” is the Greek word dunamis, which is most often used in ancient literature to depict military might or the ability to conquer. In fact, it is used 210 times in the New Testament to denote strength and conquering ability. For those who don’t believe in Jesus and have never experienced the delivering and conquering power of the Gospel, this message may seem to be foolishness. But those who have repented and have entered into covenant with Jesus Christ know the delivering, conquering power of these mighty words. It is no foolishness to the redeemed — it is the lifesaving power of God !

In the early days of the Church, the message of the Cross — backed with the power of the Spirit — produced life wherever it found open hearts to receive its eternal truth. It ignited new birth in the hearts of men, broke the yoke of spiritual bondage off of people’s lives, brought healing to bodies and minds ravaged by sickness and disease, and delivered people of defiling demonic influences from their previous pagan environment.

There was, there is, and there always will be wonder-working power in the message of the Cross. It may seem primitive or foolish to those who do not believe — but to those of us who are saved, this is the power of God unto salvation. For us, it is clear: There is salvation in no other.

Jesus is the only name given to man by which we can be saved (see Acts 4:12). The Cross is still the power of salvation to those who believe!

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Honey In The Rock":

Shalom in Him!