Shalom,

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

WHEN CAN YOU BEAR ANOTHER'S BURDENS?

Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. — Galatians 6:2

Not so long ago, a precious woman in our congregation came to church looking sad and depressed. It was unusual to see her this way, because she was normally cheerful and full of faith. She sat in her chair, dropped her head, and began to weep. I wanted to go to her right then, but she had come into the service late, and I was on stage getting ready to step up to the pulpit to preach.

As I delivered my message, I kept glancing in her direction to see if she was still crying. Her head remained clutched in her hands, and I could see that she was sobbing about something that was greatly burdening her heart. When the service concluded, I went with my pastoral staff into the foyer to shake hands with people who were leaving the service. Soon she appeared in the line with heavy red eyes and a countenance that told me she was heartbroken over something.

I pulled her out of the line and called for my precious wife. Soon the two of them were sitting alone at the far end of the foyer where they could talk without anyone overhearing the conversation. The woman told Denise that her husband, who had been delivered from alcoholism, had started to drink again. That weekend he had been violent toward her and verbally abusive toward the children, acting like the old man he used to be. The woman’s heart was simply crushed, but by the time she and Denise were finished talking and praying together, her face had lightened up, her countenance had changed, and it was evident that God had stirred hope in her heart for her family.

I often think of how many church members come to church burdened by the cares of life. Perhaps the burdens they carry are due to finances, marriage, friendships, a problem at work, a child who is rebellious or who is running from God, a death in the family — the list of potential problems people face goes on and on.

It saddens me to think of the vast number of churchgoers who come into their church services feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders. These people wish that someone would help them or pray with them, but no one ever asks how they are doing. Never having an opportunity to tell anyone what is happening in their lives, they frequently leave a service just as burdened as they were when they first walked through the church doors.

Have you ever been so burdened by the cares of life that you thought you might be crushed by the weight of it all? Did you wish someone would crawl under that load and help you carry it? Perhaps you can remember times when you cried out to God, Please send someone to help me with these things that I’m dealing with in my life right now!

In Galatians 6:2, the apostle Paul tells us, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Answer this question: When are we supposed to help bear someone else’s burden?

The word “burden” in this verse comes from the Greek word baros. It refers to a weight that is heavy or crushing. In fact, the word baros describes such a crushing weight that Paul used this same word in Second Corinthians 1:8 when he wrote about the terrible problems he and his traveling companions underwent in Asia. Paul wrote that these difficulties were of such a stressful nature that the men literally felt as if they were “pressed out of measure.” In Second Corinthians 5:4, he used the word baros once more when he said, “…[We] do groan, being burdened….” Again, this word refers to a load so heavy that it causes a person to feel that he is burdened or weighed down.

The word baros could refer to either a physical or a spiritual problem. For instance, this type of pressing burden could be a habitual sin that has plagued you and weighed you down year after year. Satan may try to use these kinds of weaknesses and faults to hinder or completely abort God’s plan for your life. That’s why it’s so important that these “burdens” be dealt with and defeated. If you are unable to do it alone, you need to seek the help of others to pull you through to a place of victory.

The point Paul is making here is that when a fellow believer is under a crushing weight — when he is under so much pressure that he feels like he’ll break if someone doesn’t get under that load and help him carry it — it is our Christian responsibility to help bear his burden, “…and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

In Galatians 6:2, the Greek expresses the following:

“When someone is burdened by crushing cares and difficult events in life that are too much for one person to carry all by himself, crawl up under that burden and help that person carry it, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

I want to encourage you today to be sensitive to the needs of others who are around you. When you go to church, go to work, or even spend time with your family and friends, ask the Holy Spirit to help you see when people are carrying too much by themselves. If you discern that they are burdened, go to them and ask, How can I pray for you today? What is happening in your life?

God may use you to bring real relief and freedom into someone’s situation. Perhaps just providing a listening ear is all that is needed to help that person get through his or her dilemma.

On the other hand, if an overwhelming problem, weakness, habit, or sin is pressing down on your life, you need to be humble enough to say, Hey, I need someone to pray with me! This is too much for me to do completely by myself! It may be difficult for you to open your heart and reveal your need, but it will be far more difficult for you to carry it alone until you eventually become emotionally devastated by that burden.

As brothers and sisters in the Lord, we need to do everything we can to step deeply into people’s lives in order to encourage and refresh them spiritually and to help them get through their problems. When we see someone struggling, we must be bold enough to ask that person how we can help! When we work together as a Body in this way, every need will be addressed and met!

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Kids":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I REALLY LOVE today's "Daily Grace Inspiratsions" devotional by Joseph Prince!

Continue in God’s Grace

Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Galatians 3:3

How were you first impacted by Jesus? Was it through the law or was it His grace in your life that touched your heart? We all began our relationship with the Lord because we were impacted by His love and grace. Let us then continue in that grace.

Paul warned the Galatians against turning back to the law after beginning in grace. He said, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace [unmerited favor] of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6–7).

Paul takes this very seriously. He calls any gospel apart from the gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor) a perversion. Attempting to be justified by the works of the Ten Commandments is a perversion of the gospel of Christ.

Paul asked the church in Galatia point-blank, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh [self-effort]?" (Galatians 3:2–3).

Paul was saying to them, "You began by believing in His grace, why are you now depending on your works? That is foolishness! You should be continuing in His unmerited favor!” These are strong words by Paul.

Don’t start with grace and end up with the law. Don’t start with the new covenant, only to turn back to the old covenant! There are those who say that they are not justified by the law, but believe that they should keep the law for sanctification. My friend, both justification and sanctification come by our faith in Jesus' finished work alone.

When you are established in the new covenant of grace, you will experience a tremendous sense of confidence and security in Christ. When your confidence is in His unmerited favor and not your performance, you will not feel as if you are constantly jumping in and out of His favor and acceptance.

It is unfortunate that some believers have put themselves back under the old covenant without realizing it. Sometimes, they feel that God is on their side, but at other times, they feel that God is far away from them. Sometimes, they feel that God is satisfied with them, but at other times, they feel that God is angry with them.

All these feelings are based predominantly on their own evaluation of how they have performed, how they feel about themselves, and not how God sees them. Because there is no new covenant scriptural basis for such evaluations, they end up arbitrarily deciding if they are deserving of God’s blessings and favor in their lives or not, when in fact, they actually have access to His blessings all the time, simply because of Jesus and His finished work at the cross.

Today, think, talk and act knowing that it is not about you or your works—it is about Jesus and Him alone, and step out into His blessings for you!

AMEN! Here Brandon Lake with "Count 'Em":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Here is a very exciting promise for you from Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food" devotional!

Joint-Heirs

The Spirit itself [Himself] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ . . . . — ROMANS 8:16-17

Do you think the people who lived under the Old Covenant could be more blessed than those in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Do you think the people who lived under the Old Covenant could be blessed financially, and be well and healed, but those in the Church couldn’t?

Do you think that the Church, the Body of Christ, the Body of the Son of God, the Body of the Beloved, would have to struggle through life poverty-stricken, emaciated, wasted away with starvation, sick and afflicted, singing, “Here I wander, like a beggar, through the heat and cold”?

Away with such ideas!

The Bible declares that we are joint-heirs with Christ! Sons of God! Children of God! In the Kingdom of God!

We’re not beggars! We’re new creatures.

We’re blessed above all people.

Confession: The Holy Spirit Himself bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. God is my very own Father. I am His very own child. And since I am His child, then I am His heir. I am an heir of God — the Creator of the universe — and I am a joint-heir with Jesus Christ!

AMEN! Get THAT inside of you and you will never live in FEAR again! Here is Brandon Lake with "God Is Not Against Me"?:

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share again from Jerry Savelle Ministries devotional.

Success Is Conditional

But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But he who … is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22, 25 NKJV

Some of God’s promised blessings are conditional. This means you have to do something or meet a certain condition to qualify for the expected result. When you meet the conditions, your success is guaranteed; you cannot fail. Other blessings from God are unconditional. For example, His love is always offered to you unconditionally—regardless of who you are or what you do.

While God’s love is always given unconditionally, success is never guaranteed: it is conditional. Although success and prosperity have been promised to all of God’s people, they will not automatically come to pass in your life. You must meet the conditions.

You might say, “Brother Jerry, when you talk about conditions, are you talking about getting back under the Law?”

No, I’m not. But I am telling you that nowhere in the Word of God will you find any statement that even suggests you can do absolutely nothing and expect God to bless you. In fact the Bible says, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep—so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man” (Proverbs 6:10-11 NKJV).

Although God will sometimes pour out acts of grace in a person’s life, the only way to guarantee success is to learn God’s conditions for success, and then act on them. Here’s the one Scripture that gives us insight how to obtain success:

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. Joshua 1:8 AMPC

Confession: I make a quality decision today to meditate on the Word of God day and night, and to be a doer of the Word, not a hearer only. As I do this, I will become prosperous and have good success in everything I set my hand to do.

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "The Great I AM Can":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I LOVE today's "My Utmost For His Highest" devotional by Oswald Chambers!

“Out Of The Wreck I Rise”

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? — Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says — “I will be with him in trouble.” It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man’s life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are “more than conquerors in all these things.” Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

“Shall tribulation…?” Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may — exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

“Shall…anguish…?” — can God’s love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

“Shall…famine…?” — can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God’s character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it — the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.

AMEN! Here, in THIS life! And He has soo much more for us in the next! Here is Brandon Lake with "Turnaround":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

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

Covenant Blessing

And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. — EXODUS 23:25-26

As long as Israel walked in the covenant, there was no sickness among them. There is no record of a premature death as long as they kept the covenant. No babies, no young people, no middle-aged people died. With sickness taken away from the midst of them, they lived their whole lives out without disease, and then they just fell asleep in death. When it was time for them to go, they would lay hands on their children, pronounce blessings upon them, gather their feet up into bed, give up the ghost, and go home.

What does that have to do with us? God is the same God now that He was then! The Bible says that He does not change. God was against sin in the Old Testament (Old Covenant), and God is against sin in the New Testament (New Covenant). God was against sickness in the Old Testament — and God is against sickness in the New Testament. God made provision for healing in the Old Testament — and God has made provision for healing in the New Testament!

Confession: I love and serve the Lord my God as a New Covenant believer. Jesus has taken sickness away from the midst of me. If He tarries His coming, the number of my days I will fulfill!

HALLELUJAH! Our GREAT GOD has already made provision for us to be WELL in every area of our lives! Let's find out what HE SAYS belongs to US as CHILDREN of the MOST HIGH GOD! Here is Brandon Lake with "Plans":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

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

His Ascension And Our Union

And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. — Luke 24:51

We have no corresponding experience to the events in Our Lord’s life after the Transfiguration. From then onwards Our Lord’s life was altogether vicarious. Up to the time of the Transfiguration He had exhibited the normal perfect life of a man; from the Transfiguration onwards — Gethsemane, the Cross, the Resurrection — everything is unfamiliar to us. His Cross is the door by which every member of the human race can enter into the life of God; by His Resurrection He has the right to give eternal life to any man, and by His Ascension Our Lord enters heaven and keeps the door open for humanity.

On the Mount of Ascension the Transfiguration is completed. If Jesus had gone to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have gone alone; He would have been nothing more to us than a glorious Figure. But He turned His back on the glory, and came down from the Mount to identify Himself with fallen humanity.

The Ascension is the consummation of the Transfiguration. Our Lord does now go back into His primal glory; but He does not go back simply as Son of God; He goes back to God as Son of Man as well as Son of God. There is now freedom of access for anyone straight to the very throne of God by the Ascension of the Son of Man. As Son of Man Jesus Christ deliberately limited omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience in Himself. Now they are His in absolute full power. As Son of Man Jesus Christ has all power at the throne of God. He is King of kings and Lord of lords from the day of His Ascension until now.

HALLELUJAH! One day, soon and very soon, JESUS is going to change born again believers on the earth in the blink of an eye and call us up to join Him in the air! THEN we will celebrate in Heaven! Until then, HE is leading, guiding and directing us here by His Spirit to carry out HIS will and plan and purpose! Let's be about our Father's business while we still have time! Here is Brandon Lake with "This Is A Move":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's "From Faith To Faith" devotional!

Step Out of the Boat

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water….

It’s easy to be so afraid of making a mistake that you never get around to stepping out on faith. You can spend all your time wondering, Is this faith? Or is it presumption? What if I exercise my faith for something and find out later I’ve missed God’s will?

Don’t worry. God can handle any mistake you can make. I know because I’ve made plenty of them. When I did, I’d just go to the Lord and He’d tell me, Stay on the Word, son. Together we’ll overcome this thing. And we always did.

If you act on the Word out of the sincerity of your heart and you steadfastly stay with the Word, Jesus will never let you down…no matter how many dumb mistakes you make. He proved that the night Peter jumped out of the boat in the middle of the lake.

Have you ever stopped to think about that incident? Peter hadn’t been praying or seeking God’s will before he did that. On impulse he just blurted out, “Lord, if it’s You, bid me come.”

What was Jesus supposed to say? He couldn’t very well say, “It’s not Me.” I suppose He could have said, “Wait a minute now. You don’t have the faith to get out here. You’d better stay in that boat or you’re going to drown for sure.”

But He didn’t say that to Peter–and He won’t say it to you. If you want to get out and walk by faith, He’ll get out there with you and pick you up when you start sinking. He’ll walk you back to the boat if He has to.

It’s better to risk being presumptuous than to waste your life in the boat of unbelief! If you have to, just dive into the water and say, “God, help me!”

Don’t let fear keep you from taking that step of faith. Come on, get out of the boat today!

AMEN! Here is Brooke Ligertwood with "Bless God":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share from "My Utmost for His Highest!".

The Habit Of Rising To The Occasion By Oswald Chambers

That ye may know what is the hope of His calling…. — Ephesians 1:18

Remember what you are saved for — that the Son of God might be manifested in your mortal flesh. Bend the whole energy of your powers to realize your election as a child of God; rise to the occasion every time.

You cannot do anything for your salvation, but you must do something to manifest it, you must work out what God has worked in. Are you working it out with your tongue, and your brain and your nerves? If you are still the same miserable crosspatch, set on your own way, then it is a lie to say that God has saved and sanctified you.

God is the Master Engineer, He allows the difficulties to come in order to see if you can vault over them properly — “By my God have I leaped over a wall.” God will never shield you from any of the requirements of a son or daughter of His. Peter says — “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you.” Rise to the occasion; do the thing. It does not matter how it hurts as long as it gives God the chance to manifest Himself in your mortal flesh.

May God not find the whine in us any more, but may He find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything He brings. We have to exercise ourselves in order that the Son of God may be manifested in our mortal flesh. God never has museums. The only aim of the life is that the Son of God may be manifested, and all dictation to God vanishes. Our Lord never dictated to His Father, and we are not here to dictate to God; we are here to submit to His will so that He may work through us what He wants. When we realise this, He will make us broken bread and poured-out wine to feed and nourish others.

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "I Know A Name":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Joseph Prince's "Daily Grace Inspirations" devotional for today is POWERFUL!

Your Answer Is Found in a Person

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24–25

The flesh in us can produce a whole gamut of emotions and thoughts, from defeat, jealousy, greed, and lust to anger, inferiority, condemnation, and arrogance. As long as we are in this physical body, the flesh is active in us.

But we can rejoice because when Jesus died on the cross, the Word of God tells us that He “condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). All the negative thoughts and toxic emotions from the flesh have already been judged and punished at the cross. Today we can experience victory over the flesh through the power of the cross.

You can read all about the apostle Paul’s struggle with the flesh in Romans 7:18–19: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice”.

Did you notice how many times the words “I,” “me,” and “my” are mentioned in just the two verses above? I’m sure you can identify with the apostle Paul here in his struggle with the flesh.

It’s the struggle we all face when we are occupied with ourselves and warring with the flesh within us. It’s a life of vexation, angst, defeat, and despair.

This is not where God wants you to live, my friend. A believer doesn’t live in Romans chapter 7. Through Christ Jesus, we should be living in Romans chapter 8. Let’s read on and discover how Paul broke free from this bondage of self.

Just a few verses later, Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). The answer, my friend, is found in a person, and Paul tells us this person is Jesus: “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25).

Only our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ, can deliver us from the flesh. And in Christ we can step into the first verse of Romans chapter 8, which proclaims, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (NASB).

This is where we as new covenant believers ought to live. Not in the domain of constant struggle and despair, but in the domain of no condemnation and victory.

AMEN! WE choose whether or not we will LIVE in the WORD of GOD every day! Here is Brandon Lake with "God Is Not Against Me":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

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

Chastening

That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the Church] with the washing of water by the word. — EPHESIANS 5:26

“You’ve forgotten,” someone said to me.

“What did I forget?”

“In the Book of Hebrews it says, ‘ . . .whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth . . .’” (Hebrews 12:6).

“No, I didn’t forget. That verse is still in there. But it doesn’t say, ‘whom the Lord loveth He makes sick.’”

People put their own interpretation on verses. “Chasten” in the Greek means to child train, to educate. You train your children. You send them to school. But did you ever tell the teacher, “If Johnny doesn’t do right, knock his eye out,” or “If Johnny is disobedient, break his leg,” or “Give him cancer.” No! That isn’t the way you discipline or train a child! And that’s not the way God does it either!

Confession: I am trained by the Word and the Spirit of God. I am educated by the Word and the Spirit of God. I am disciplined by the Word and the Spirit of God. With the washing of water by the Word, I am cleansed!

AMEN! Remember, the Word of God is TRUTH and there are no contradictions! Here is UNITED with "Say The Word":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

God has given us many instructions in His Word in order for us to live a BLESSED Life of freedom and blessing! Here is 

Any

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. — JAMES 5:14-15

“Is any sick among you?”

Among whom?

The Church!

Then it must be God’s will to heal “any” of the sick in the Church!

And it can’t be God’s will for “any” in the Church to be sick!

“But, Brother Hagin, you’ve forgotten,” one person said.

“Forgotten what?”

“The Bible says that if we suffer with Him, we’ll reign with Him.”

“No, I haven’t forgotten,” I explained. “Let’s read it again: ‘ . . . if . . . we suffer WITH HIM . . .’ (Romans 8:17). Suffer what: Pneumonia? Cancer? Tuberculosis? No! Jesus didn’t suffer from any of these things.

What did Jesus suffer? Persecution. And you will, too, if you live right. Especially if you preach divine healing, the gifts of the Spirit, and faith. I’ve suffered persecution for more than sixty-five years, but I haven’t suffered sickness and disease.

Confession: It is God’s will for the Church, His Body, to walk in divine health. It is God’s will for me to be well!

AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "That's The Power":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

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

Build Your Faith Upon His Promises

“He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine.”  Job 5:19–22

I believe the Lord gave me the above portion of scripture to strengthen you. Let’s take a closer look at the first verse: “He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.”

Now, I have read this verse a number of times before, but the Lord quickened this scripture in me, so let me share this fresh insight with you. I want to specially address those who have been greatly discouraged in the area of protection. Perhaps you have experienced a very difficult or even tragic event, or are going through a very challenging situation right now. Can I encourage you to build your faith upon His promises and not upon your experiences?

The Word of God says that in this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33). The fact that God declares in His Word that He will deliver us from troubles tells us that we will experience troubles. But God wants us to know that the more we hear preaching on Psalm 91, the more we quote it and remind ourselves of the Lord’s protection daily, the more our faith in His protection will grow.

Faith comes from “hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17 NASB). The more we hear, the more we believe! The more we claim and pray the prayer of protection, the more we will walk in its blessings. That is the intention of this book—to saturate you with the hearing and hearing of the Lord’s protection promises for your life until your faith is robust and overflowing.

My friend, deliverance from trouble is fantastic, but there is a promise that is even greater, and that is when you are at that place where “no evil shall touch you.” That’s my prayer for you and your loved ones.

While we live in dangerous times, we have an almighty God who watches over us. May we all increase and have a progressive revelation of the Lord’s protection in these last days. While none of us, myself included, are there yet, we are on a journey of faith, of walking fully in the promises of God’s protection.

Let’s give thanks to the Lord for His deliverance from all our troubles as we continue to believe we will come to the place where no evil will touch our loved ones and us!

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Tear Off The Roof":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

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

Healing Is Good

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. — ACTS 10:38

Who anointed Jesus of Nazareth? God did! And Jesus said, “. . . the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). How did God do these works of healings through Jesus? By anointing Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with healing power.

What did Jesus do with the anointing that God anointed Him with? He went about doing good! And what was the good Jesus did? Healing!

Therefore, it was actually God healing the people when Jesus healed them, because it was God who had anointed Jesus. God is in the healing business! He’s not in the sickness business!

Who was it Jesus healed? All that were oppressed of the devil. All! ALL! Everyone healed under the ministry of Jesus were oppressed of the devil. (This doesn’t mean that everyone had an evil spirit, but it does mean that the devil is behind all sickness.)

Yet to hear some people talk — even ministers — they would lead you to believe that God and the devil had swapped jobs in the last 2,000 years, and God is putting sickness on people, and the devil is healing them. But no! The devil is the same devil he has always been. And God is the same God!

Confession: Satan is the oppressor, not God. Jesus is the Deliverer!

AMEN! Remember: GOD APPOINTED JESUS OF NAZARETH! GOD APPOINTED YOU to do the same! Here is Brandon Lake with "Count 'Em":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

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

Grasp Without Reach

Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint. — Proverbs 29:18

There is a difference between an ideal and a vision. An ideal has no moral inspiration; a vision has. The people who give themselves over to ideals rarely do anything. A man’s conception of Deity may be used to justify his deliberate neglect of his duty. Jonah argued that because God was a God of justice and of mercy, therefore everything would be all right. I may have a right conception of God, and that may be the very reason why I do not do my duty. But wherever there is vision, there is also a life of rectitude because the vision imparts moral incentive.

Ideals may lull to ruin. Take stock of yourself spiritually and see whether you have ideals only or if you have vision.

Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?

“Where there is no vision….” When once we lose sight of God, we begin to be reckless, we cast off certain restraints, we cast off praying, we cast off the vision of God in little things, and begin to act on our own initiative. If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on the downward path, we have lost the vision. Is our attitude to-day an attitude that springs from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done? Is there a freshness and vigour in our spiritual outlook?

AMEN! Check your own heart every day to make sure that YOU are putting 'first things first'! God's Word and time in the 'Secret Place' should be out first priority! Everything will fall into proper place when we do that! Here is Hillsong with "Secret Place":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today's "Faith Food" devotional by Kenneth E.Hagin is powerful!

Purpose

. . . For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. — 1 JOHN 3:8

During the Korean Conflict, I read an article by a well-known newspaper columnist. He said, “I don’t claim to be a Christian, but I’m not an atheist or an agnostic either. The atheist says there is no God. The agnostic says there may be a God; he doesn’t know. I believe there is a God. I don’t believe everything just happened into being. What hinders me from being a Christian is what I hear preachers say. They say that God is running everything. Well, if He is, He’s sure got things in a mess.”

Then the columnist alluded to the wars, children being killed, poverty, disease, and so forth, that plague the world. He said, “I believe there is a Supreme Being somewhere, and that everything He made was beautiful and good. I can’t believe these other things are the works of God.”

No, these things came with the fall, when Satan became the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). And the Bible teaches that when Satan is finally eliminated from the earth, there will be nothing here that will hurt or destroy. It ought to be obvious where all the hurts and destruction come from. If evil came from God, we would still have it after Satan is destroyed from the scene, because God will still be here. But we know that evil does not come from God.

Confession: The Son of God was manifested so that He might destroy the works of the devil. As part of Christ’s Body, I take authority over the works of the devil!

AMEN! Here is an oldie with Len Mink from the Gospel Bill Show called "We've Got The Power":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I am sharing Joseph Prince's "Daily Grace Inspirations" devotional!

Personalize God’s Favor in Your Life

Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. John 13:23

I used to think that among Jesus’ 12 disciples, John was the Lord’s favorite disciple and the one who was the closest to Him because the Bible calls John “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” I was under the impression that John had a special favor with Jesus, and always wondered what made him so special that he stood apart from the other disciples. Don’t you want to be known as the disciple whom Jesus loves? I do!

Then one day, when I was reading God’s Word, the secret of John’s favor dawned on me. The Lord opened my eyes and showed me that the phrase “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is actually found only in John’s own book! Check it out for yourself. You will not find this phrase being used in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is found only in the Gospel of John. It is a phrase that John used to describe himself!

Now, what was John doing? He was practicing and personalizing the love that Jesus had for him. We are all God’s favorites, but John knew the secret of accessing Jesus’ unmerited favor for himself. It is your prerogative to see yourself as the disciple whom Jesus loves, and to call yourself that!

When I started to teach that the secret of John’s favor lay in his personalization of God’s love, the people in my church literally stepped into a new dimension of experiencing God’s unmerited favor in their lives. I have seen how some of them really took this revelation and ran with it. Some of them customized the wallpapers of their cell phones to say “The disciple whom Jesus loves,” while others signed off their text messages and emails with the phrase.

As they kept reminding themselves that they are the disciple whom Jesus loves, they began to grow in the consciousness of the Lord’s love for them. At the same time, they began to grow in being favor-conscious! I have piles of praise reports on how our congregation members have been so blessed just by being conscious of Jesus’ favor in their lives. Some of them have been promoted, some have received spectacular increments to their paychecks, and many have won various prizes at company functions and in other contests, including all-expense-paid vacations.

A brother from my church signed up for a certain credit card during a special promotion in which new applicants stood to win a range of prizes. There were probably hundreds of thousands of people who participated in this promotion, but this young man just believed that he was highly favored, and because of that, he would win the top prize.

The day of the draw came and true enough, this young man won the top prize—a stunning black Lamborghini Gallardo! When he wrote to the church to share his testimony, he enclosed a picture of himself smiling from ear to ear, posing with his brand-new Lamborghini.

He said that he knew that he had won the car by the unmerited favor of God, and after he had sold off the car, he brought his tithe to the church, giving all glory and honor to Jesus. The world calls this “luck,” but for the believer, there is no such thing as luck. There is only the unmerited favor of Jesus!

AMEN! The only relationship with JESUS that can be modeled from YOUR life is YOURS! Never try to copy someone else! ALWAYS imitate JESUS! HE is waiting on YOU! Here is Brandon Lake and Pat Barrett with "Praise The Lord Forever":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share Jerry Savelle Ministries daily devotional!

Praying in the Spirit

First Corinthians 14:15 teaches us that we can pray both with our understanding (our mind) and out of our spirit; “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding” (NKJV).

There are several great reasons why you need to pray in the Spirit:

• It builds you up spiritually (see 1 Corinthians 14:4; Jude 1:20).
• It enables you to pray the will of God when you don’t know what to pray or how to pray for a particular situation (see Romans 8:26-27).
• It refreshes and brings rest (see Isaiah 28:11-12).

One of the greatest benefits of praying in the Spirit is that by doing so we can obtain wisdom from God about how to pray even as we’re praying. “For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth Him; howbeit in the spirit He speaketh mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2 KJV).

First Corinthians 2:6-7 explains this even further: “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery [or in the Spirit], the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory” (NKJV).

This hidden wisdom translates into God’s perfect will. It may not have been known to your understanding when you first began to pray, but the Holy Spirit through you and in you is helping you to pray it to the Father.

As you pray in the Spirit, you may not have immediate understanding of what you are saying; but when you pray in faith in the Spirit, the wisdom will come.

Take advantage of this powerful gift God has given you and spend time daily praying in the Spirit.

Confession: As I pray in the Spirit, I am praying God’s perfect will for my life, and I believe I receive wisdom, revelation, and insight.

AMEN! Now YOU HGO and do the same! Here is Hillsong with "Say The Word":

Shalom in him!

Shalom,

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

His Riches

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. — PROVERBS 13:22

The Lord Jesus said to me once as He came and sat by my bedside and talked to me for an hour and a half about being led of the Spirit, “My Spirit will lead all of My children. The Bible says, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’ (Romans 8:14). I will lead you, and not only you, but any child of God. I will show you what to do with your money. I will show you how to invest it. In fact, if you’ll listen to Me, I will make you rich. I am not opposed to My children being rich. I am opposed to their being covetous.”

(Someone could be covetous and not have a dime.)

People misquote the Bible when they claim that it says, “Money is the root of all evil.” But the Bible doesn’t say that at all. It says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil . . .” (1 Timothy 6:10).

It is all right for you to have money. It is wrong for money to have you!

Confession: I am a child of God. I am led by the Spirit of God. My trust is in God, not in riches. But I trust God to lead me concerning my finances. I honor God with tithes and offerings of all that I have. And all of my needs are supplied according to God’s riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

AMEN! Never turn your eyes from JESUS to THINGS! KEEP our eyes and heart on JESUS and you will find that THINGS will find their way TO YOU! Here is Brandon Lake with "Spare Change":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Here is another "Faith Food" devotional for you!

The Good

If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. — ISAIAH 1:19

If you are willing and obedient, it is God’s will that you have the best. (Of course, you can’t walk in disobedience and enjoy the good things of God.)

God is not a miser or a tightwad. And He didn’t put everything here in this world for the devil and his crowd to enjoy.

Some people have the idea that if you’re a Christian, you should never have anything, financially or materially. They believe that you should go through life poor and beaten down.

But Jesus said, “If ye then, being evil [natural], know how to give good gifts unto your children, HOW MUCH MORE shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11).

Oh, God wants to give us good gifts! He wants us to have the best! He wants us to prosper and have the good things of this life! But we must cooperate with Him.

Confession: I am willing to love and serve God my Father. I am obedient to walk in the light of His Word, His will. Therefore, I shall eat the good of the land. And with confidence I can pray for the good things in life, because it is my Father’s will that I have them.

AMEN! Here is Brandon Lake with "Plans":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I want to share with you this devotional from Joseph Prince's "Daily Grace Inspirations:

Come Back to Simplicity

But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

Several years ago, the Lord began to speak to me about healing in a very strong way. He led me to read a verse I believe articulates clearly His will for us. It was written by the disciple whom Jesus loved, the disciple who was an eyewitness as Jesus went about healing all who came to Him, the disciple who leaned on Jesus’ bosom and knew the heartbeat of His love:

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. —3 John 1:2

What I want you to see is this: John was writing to the well-beloved Gaius, a believer. John knew that Gaius’s soul was already prospering.

If you have invited Jesus into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, then you have received the gift of eternal life and can have full assurance that heaven is your home (Romans 10:9–11). Whatever challenges you might be faced with on the outside, your soul, which is eternal, has begun prospering.

But it wasn’t enough for John to know Gaius’s soul was prospering. John prayed that Gaius would also “prosper in all things and be in health.” In other words, you can pray for your outward, physical body to be healthy even as your soul is healthy in Christ.

You can be sure God’s will is for you to be healthy because His Word declares it. Since His will is for you to be “in health,” don’t go with human tradition or man’s opinion that says it is sometimes His will for you to be sick.

Don’t let man’s conjectures and theories cause you to believe the lie that maybe God wants you to endure the sickness in your body so you can learn to trust Him more or grow in patience. Because of what Jesus did at Calvary, we can be sure sickness is never from God. Healing is!

Come back to the simplicity of declaring like a child, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” In the same way, how do I know Jesus wants us walking in His health and wholeness? For the Bible tells me so.

AMEN!Here are Hillsong Kids with "My Number One":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today I am sharing Jerry Savelle Ministries' devotional:

Who Are You?

13For You did form my inward parts. 16Your 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. Psalm 139:13 & 16 AMPC

People all over the world ask this question: Who am I? They are searching for both their individual identity and the purpose for their life. I’ve encountered believers who’ve lost sight of who they are simply because of something others have said to them. Things like “you’re a failure … you’re a nobody … you’ll never succeed.”

We are told in Proverbs 23:7 that “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” In other words, you will be the person you believe in your heart to be. And the only valid source for determining your identity is the Word of God.

Jesus was quoting the Word of God when He declared, “He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel … to heal the brokenhearted … to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18). Just as Jesus found His identity in the Word of God, so too will you. The fact of the matter is this: you are who God says you are.

• Your talents and abilities don’t determine who you are.
• Your job or your social status doesn’t determine who you are.
• Your family and friends don’t determine who you are.
• Your mirror doesn’t determine who you are.

Only God determines who you really are. However, nobody else—not even God—can determine whether the real you will ever be expressed in life. That decision is entirely yours.

I encourage you to take the time to fill your heart with the Word of God. As you begin to understand what your Creator has to say about you, you are certain to find your true identity in Him.

Confession: Father, I choose right now to believe I am who You say I am. I will not walk by my feelings, but rather by my faith in Your Word. As I come into agreement with You, I will become the person You created me to be.

AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "Who You Say I AM":

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

I have been reading Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food" devotionals since the early 1980s and I STILL love them! Here is today's:

According To His Will

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. — 1 JOHN 5:14-15

People have remembered John’s phrase “according to his will,” and thought they had to pray, “Lord, do this or that, if it be thy will.” But inserting this expression into a prayer when God’s Word already states that what we’re praying for is His will — is confessing that we don’t believe God’s Word. And that kind of praying will not work.

How can we find out what God’s will is?

God’s Word is His will! We can find out God’s will for us in the Bible— because the Bible is God’s will, His covenant, and His testament. And it is God’s will for us to have whatever God has provided for us!

First we must find the scriptures that reveal God’s will for us. Then we can go before God with great boldness: “. . . this is the CONFIDENCE that we have in him . . . .” When we pray for things that God’s Word tells us are His will, we know that He hears us! And when we know God hears us, we know we have the petitions we ask of Him. We know we have them, praise God!

Confession: I have this boldness toward God: When I ask anything according to God’s Word, I know He hears me! And I know that when God hears me, I have the petitions I desired of Him!

AMEN! Since God's WORD IS HIS WILL, lets spend more time in the word of God than any thing else! Here is Hillsong with "Your Word":

Shalom in Him! 

Shalom,

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

Prayer Fruit

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. — JOHN 15:7-8

“If ye abide in me . . . .” If we are born again, we do abide in Christ. If Jesus had said that and that alone, we would have had it made, but He continued, “. . . AND my words abide in you . . . .”

Jesus’ words abide in us in the measure that they govern our lives — in the measure that we act upon them.

If Jesus’ words abide in us, we are bound to have faith, because the Bible says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). It would be impossible for Jesus’ words to abide in someone and that person not have faith!

Unbelief and doubt are a result of ignorance of the Word of God. If we live the Word, then when we come to pray, that Word dwells in us so richly that it becomes Jesus’ Word on our lips. It will be as the Father’s words were on the lips of Jesus.

Confession: I abide in Christ. And His words abide in me. I hide His words in my heart. I believe them. I pray them. When I come to prayer, the Word that dwells in my heart becomes God’s Word on my lips, and it cannot return to God void. It will accomplish what it promises!

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

Shalom in Him!

Shalom,

Today we read half of Psalm 119 and tomorrow we will read the other half! I will share a few verses here, but then I challenge YOU to read through these verses and find the Word of God in every verse!

1 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the undefiled (the upright, truly sincere, and blameless) in the way [of the revealed will of God], who walk (order their conduct and conversation) in the law of the Lord (the whole of God’s revealed will).
2 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart.
3 Yes, they do no unrighteousness [no willful wandering from His precepts]; they walk in His ways.
4 You have commanded us to keep Your precepts, that we should observe them diligently.
5 Oh, that my ways were directed and established to observe Your statutes [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]!
6 Then shall I not be put to shame [by failing to inherit Your promises] when I have respect to all Your commandments.
7 I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn [by sanctified experiences] Your righteous judgments [Your decisions against and punishments for particular lines of thought and conduct].

Here is Hillsong with "Your Word":

Shalom in Him!