It’s easy to have a negative attitude in today’s world because there are so many things that an individual has to deal with on a day to day basis – home, work, finances and relationships just to name a few; but believers must keep in mind that we are not to see things the way non-believers see things.  We are to live by faith, believing that everything will work together for our good no matter what the circumstances look like.

There is a story in the Bible about Caleb and Joshua.  They were two of the 12 spies that Moses sent into their promise land to come back with a report about the inhabitants and the land itself.   Ten spies came back with a report that the land was fruitful but the inhabitants were giants and they would not be able to conquer them.  Caleb, the older, and Joshua remembered the promises of God and reported that yes there were giants in the land, but they would be able to conquer them.  God noticed the attitude of these 2 men and even spoke of Caleb as having ‘a different spirit.’  Caleb had lived a long time and he knew that God keeps His promises.  God had led them to their promise land and He would enable them to enter it.

One thing we can learn from that story is that our attitude will dictate whether we experience victory or defeat.  If we have a negative attitude, everything will look negative and it will rob us of what God intends for us to have.  Secondly, we should not be afraid of the giants in our lives.  Expect the giants, after all, the children of Israel arrived at the place that God had promised to them but in order to possess it, they would have to fight.

We must learn to fight the giants in our lives and we can do so beause of Almighty God on our side.  Our ability to enter the land God has promised us is based on the position we take relative to the power of God.  If we believe that if God said it, then it will happen, we must do whatever it takes to possess our promise.  Satan wants you to believe that you will never win; that you will never achieve much but that is 100% not true.  You are more than a conqueror and if God be for you, who can be against you?  God will notice your faith or lack thereof.  If you are fighting your giants with a negative attitude you will lose.  If you are fighting your giants with faith, this attitude is what will give you the victory because you will stand out in a crowd just like Caleb and Joshua.

If God has made you a promise, don’t you think it’s worth fighting for?

Scripture tells us that all of God’s promises are yes – meaning they belong to every believer if they have the faith to believe.  God, as He is known to do often, makes specific promises to individuals, but the problem is will that believer walk with God long enough and trust God enough to do whatever He asks of them?

Many times God’s promise is made years before it is fulfilled and the waiting period involves test after test after test.  Man wants things to happen over-night.  We seldom want to wait on anything but there is a process everyone has to go through before God will allow us to inherit His promises.  The character of a person is revealed in how he handles the test.  Your circumstances will appear to be the exact opposite of what God has promised and how you handle the crisis that come your way is God’s way of showing you how much more you have to grow.  You will never know that God is all you need until God is all you have left.  When you are at the end of the end and everything is out of your control, if you show God that your faith will not waiver and that you believe He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do, God will honor your display of faith. Arriving at the end of yourself causes you to make important decisions.  Will you decide that things are too difficult and stop trusting and believing or will you do all that you can do and then be still and allow God to do what only He can do?

Your journey on this earth will have many fords in the road but the spirit of God is there to guide you.  God has not brought you this far for you to fail.  God has a plan and if you run your race faithfully, one day you will walk right into your very own promise land.  Never doubt.  Hold Steady and keep your eyes upon the Lord.  The miracle that you need is just beyond your present situation.  Walk by faith and not by sight all the days of your life.  You could be just one prayer away from your promise land where you will truly see the glory of God.

The Bible tells us that Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  God is in the restoration business and no one can restore to the degree that God can.  Just think about Job.  After having lost everything, and because he remained faithful to God, God restored Job with twice as much as he had before.  Restoration is also the theme of Joseph’s story.  He was a young boy of 17 when his brothers sold him into slavery and then he had to experience prison because he was unjustly accused of rape.  His gift of dream interpretation caused him to come before Pharaoh and later he was made #2 in Egypt.  But God did not stop there.  God gave Joseph a son which he named Manasseh which means ‘God made me forget the pain of my past.’  His second son was named Ephraim which meant ‘gain in the land of affliction.’

God did not forget all the pain that Joseph had gone through but He had a restoration plan that healed Joseph in such a way that he no longer felt pain.  Joseph did not forget what happened to him but he could give his testimony without it causing him any pain  and God wants to do the same for you.  God knows everything that you have gone through and He does not want you to live in pain.  God does not want your relationship with Him to be marred by what happened in the past.  God loves you that much; so much so that He wants to be the center of your life and not pain and He will heal you like only He can.

If you are true and faithful to God when you are being tested, God will restore what the enemy has stolen from you.  You have a Manasseh, created by God, that is coming to you.  Believe it.  Speak it out loud and trust that just like Job and Joseph, you will one day look back and see the goodness of God in your life.  God doesn’t just replace.  He increases by multiplication.  God wants to repay or bring into your life something so powerful that it will take away all memories of the pain you have experienced.  Remainful faithful to God and He will remain faithful to you.

Have you ever did something that you had never done before and you did not know how it would end?  It takes faith to do that.  It takes faith to step out of your comfort zone or to think outside of the box.  You might be successful right now but imagine how successful you would be if you stuck your neck out and went an extra mile and took a risk.  If God has given you a word, move on it!  Don’t let the door of opportunity pass you bye because it may not come your way again.

If you want to enjoy a greater measure of success than you have never known, you must do the following:

1) Give over and above what is expected

2) Don’t make excuses

3) Expect to experience things beyond your understanding

4) Plan on some dark days

5) Focus on the big picture

Some people just can’t go the extra mile.  They are content on doing just enough to get by but God has great plans for you.  His plans include giving you hope and a future.  Are you willing to do what it takes to get there?  Are you willing to do more than you have ever done before?  Are you willing to deal with people that might be a little different but are able to teach you what you need to know?  Most important, are you willing to persevere through the tough times until you reach your goal?  Keep your eyes on the Lord and allow Him to take you where you have never been.

The life journey of any boy, girl, man or woman who has received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior must be rooted and grounded on the principle of faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God and pleasing God opens the door to live under His blessings.

The world cannot understand God and the things of God so they are blinded to a fundamental truth that the body of Christ stands on.  Faith allows a believer to look not at the things he/she can see, but to look at those things they cannot see.  Faith separates and divides the world as it did in the days that Jesus Christ walked on this earth.  Your belief system dictates how you live your life and how you respond to the challenges that you face on a day to day basis.  Believers know that nothing is impossible with God and believe that no matter what happens, all things will work together for their good. Faith brings hope and hope brings trust and trusting someone who created this universe leaves no room for fear – fear of anything.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today, you can call on  the name of the Lord and He will answer you.  You will find that your life has meaning and purpose and you will begin a journey that will lead you to the ultimate gift of eternal life.  It only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to begin this process.  Grab this opportunity and join the millions of other believers who possess the key to life.

There is a story about a little boy who went into a country store and on the counter was a glass jar containing jelly beans.  He walks up to the counter and stares at the jar with a hungry look on his face.  The store owner tells the boy to put his hand in the jar and take a handful but the boy politely says ‘no thanks.’  The store owner insists that the boy take a handful but again he declines.  Finally, the story owner puts his own hand into the jar and pulls out a handful and gives it to the boy.  The boy runs back to his mother who was shopping and shows her all the jelly beans he was given.  The mother asks the boy why didn’t he just take a handful when the owner told him to and the boy replied ‘his hands are bigger than mine.’

You might have some degree of success in life doing things by yourself but how much more could you receive from the hands of God?  God’s hands are bigger than yours and imagine what it would be like if you lived with His favor on your life?  If you look for ways to sow a seed, not only financially, but by helping someone in need you will have God’s favor.  If you are obedient and if you live with an understanding heart, you will also have God’s favor.  If you live with an attitude of humility and briddle your tongue, you will please God and if you associate yourself with people of integrity, your life will be one that positions you for God’s blessings.

Many Christians have the misconception that they are supposed to be poor but nothing could be further from the truth.  God wants to bless you with more than enough.  Remember when Jesus fed the 5,000 and they had 12 basketfuls of left-overs?  If God wanted you to live with just enough, He would not have provided so much when Jesus prayed and asked His Father to bless the little He had.  Jabez prayed for God to bless him and to enlarge his territory and God did just that.  God wants to increase you – not decrease you or withhold from you those things you desire in your heart.  Pray as Jabez did, sincerely and honestly and watch God open the windows of Heaven and pour out a blessing to you that you cannot contain.

Let your life and the condition of your heart attract God’s attention and He will do more than you could ask or think.  You will walk in the favor of God and enjoy the presence of God all the days of your life.

Society judges us on what we look like, or in other words, on our appearance and that goes for popularity, money and what we do for a living.  God, on the other hand, judges us by what is in our heart.  Your integrity is much more important to God than what you look like or how much money you have or what position you hold.  Looks don’t define who you are; how much money you have doesn’t begin to tell the story, and your job only tells us what you do.  None of these tell the real story of who you really are.  You could be an attractive person with lots of money but have a heart made of stone.  The things you do and the words you speak all come from what is in your heart.  If you love people and care about them, you will help them whenever you can.  You will speak kind words to them and you will make yourself available when called upon.  You don’t have to look good or have a lot of money to have a heart filled with love like your heavenly Father.

The heart is God’s measuring stick.  The Bible tells us that God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts, and if you want to please God, you should always be mindful of what is in your heart.  Your heart controls what you do and what you say.  If your heart is evil, you will think evil thoughts and do evil things.  If your heart is filled with love, you will be a vessel and allow the love of God to flow through you to the world around you.

People can’t see your heart but God can.  Take some time to get alone with God and ask him if there is anything in your heart that he disapproves of.  Ask God to create in you a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within you.  If you do, he will answer you and help you to become like David and be known as a person after God’s own heart!

“What shall we then say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

The children of God are fighting a fixed fight.  Satan will do everything in his power to discourage you while you are on this earth, but he knows that the war has already been won.  The Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross, was buried and arose on the third day.  He ascended to Heaven where he is now making intercession for you.  God gave us His best when He gave us His only begotten Son and because of his shed blood on Calvary, every one who believes will have everlasting life.

God has already done all that has to be done for your salvation, and if He gave the world His Son, how much more will He do to guide, protect and provide for those who love Him?   Jehovah Jireh, as Moses called him on Mount Moriah, will provide everything you need to sustain you in this life.  You might be going through a difficult time right now but remember that you are not alone and that God is for you.  Most of all remember that ‘no weapon formed against you shall prosper.’ (Isaiah 54:17).  God has a plan for your life and He wants you to know His will so that you become the person He has created you to be.

It doesn’t matter who might be against you because with God on your side, you will always win.  God loves you and nothing will ever separate you from His love.  Walk with confidence and trust that because of God’s love you have all that you need to be successful not only in this life, but in the life to come.

There is a story about a little boy who woke up in the middle of the night because he smelled smoke.  The smoke was in his room and the only thing he could think to do was to climb out his window onto the roof.  It was so dark and smoky that as he stood on the roof he could not see anyone but he heard the voice of his father yelling for him to jump.  The boy was scared and because he could not see his father, he would not jump.  His father kept yelling at him to jump but he was afraid so he yelled back into the darkness that he could not jump because he could not see his father.  His father yelled back at him that it didn’t matter because he could see him.

You might not know where God is leading you today but the most important thing for you to remember is that God sees you.  You don’t have to know all the details; all you have to do is trust your heavenly Father to catch you and lead you to the destiny that He has for you.  We walk by faith and not by sight.  This is not always easy but it is sometimes necessary.  The challenge is to take the first step and then leave it up to God what happens after that.

God is your provider and He is your protector.  God has a plan and He will make sure that all things will work out together for your good.  Trust that – believe that.  Your journey on this earth is a walk of faith and without faith it is impossible to please God.  You will never know all that God has prepared for you if you refuse to live by faith.  Listen to that still small voice speaking to you.  That voice will show you the path to take and if you listen and obey, you will live in the promises that only the faithful obtain.

Happy New Year!

Below is a message from the Lord:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  (Jeremiah 29:11).

This is such good news to start out 2014.  What else matters?  Nothing going on in your life right now has your heavenly Father stressed out.  Everything about you – past, current and future is in His hands.  He was there when you came into this world and He will be there when you make your transition from earth to glory.  Circumstances change, people change but the one sure thing in your life that will never change is God.  You are not walking alone.  You even have an advocate who daily prays for you.  That is more than enough to jump start you this new year, but if you find yourself not being able to embrace the good that God has in store for you this year, remember the following words taken from Philippians 3:13 “brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

No one can re-do yesterday; no one has been promised tomorrow so all you have is today.  Let go of all the pain, disappointments, failures and negative things that have occurred in your life.  Forgive every thing and every one who has ever hurt you and hold your head up and walk right into 2014 knowing that you are a child of the Most High God.  Never let go of God’s unchanging hand and you will look back this time next year and say with joy “that was the best year of my life!”

You have a new beginning for a new year.  Make the most of every day.  Spread the love of God to all that you meet and watch how it will come back to you “pressed down, shaken together and running over.”