Category: faith

Uncompromising!

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Genuine. 

Real. 

No hypocrisy. 

No pretense. 

No compromising. 

Just honest to goodness, holding on to one’s integrity with every fiber of their being.  “This is what I believe, and I’m sticking to it!”  The person who governs his or her faith by these attributes is a person who is truly sold out for God.

This one will unashamedly hold on to their beliefs despite circumstances.  They are as clear as transparent glass in their true devotion to God.  What you see is what you get.  They are the same inside and out.  They are as unwavering in their faith behind closed doors as they are in the open square.  They are the same in the streets as they are in the church house.  Their walk with God doesn’t swing on the hinges of what is convenient or comfortable or safe.  They live for Him, for an audience of One, in the good times and the bad.

No backing down.  No false or phony surface worship.  Their hearts are truly tied to God in the most real of ways, and substituting for less just is not an option.  And let’s face it, in a world filled with so many things that are artificial, at the very least, one’s faith should be real.

At least, that’s what Daniel and his friends: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah believed. Chosen to enter the king’s training program designed to indoctrinate them while being held captives in Babylon, they were given favorable treatment and “a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank,” (Daniel 1:5). While all of this may sound good on the outside, on the inside some things that came with this special favor didn’t sit right with Daniel. It came with a price that Daniel was not willing to pay. The price: compromise.

So, the Bible tells us, “Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, not with wine which he drank . . .” (Daniel 1:8). Historically, traditionally, and according to the Law, to do so would be to participate in that which is considered unclean and not appropriate for the strict dietary guidelines of their faith.

Special privilege or not; an opportunity to advance and make life easier for himself could not and would not cause Daniel to do anything that would eat away at his conscience in his relationship with God.  Throughout his young life, he has known nothing but to adhere to the ways of his people passed down from generation to generation under the instruction of God.  Now that he was in captivity and at the disposal of the enemy’s power and influence, Daniel still persisted uncompromisingly to hold on to his belief and not waiver from what he had been taught to be right.  The enemy’s goal may have been to indoctrinate these young people with their own ways, but God was already seared on their hearts and Daniel and his friends were resolved to keep it that way. They may have been in a strange country now and under strange human leadership, but their hearts were still tied to God and His ways, and they were determined with everything in them to follow God all the way.

Following God all the way, that’s the true definition, in my opinion, of an uncompromising life. We all face decisions and choices in life that may not sit well with us. They may ask us to do things that we feel aren’t pleasing to God or we know that it’s just out and out wrong. Jesus helps us with those decisions by plainly and without apology reminding us, “No man can serve two masters . . .” (Matthew 6:24). To follow the world would be to deny God. To follow God, as Daniel and his friends did, would mean turning your back on the world, the desires, and those things that we believe would make our life easier and advantageous.

When Daniel and his friends decided to stay with God and not take the easy way out, God blessed their faithfulness: “As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17). Previously, God made it known, “For them that honour me I will honour” (1 Samuel 2:30). Our God is a just God and He believes in rewarding them that diligently seek Him and His ways (Hebrews 11:6). In the end, God elevated Daniel and his friends with more.

Even if the reward isn’t as immediate. Even if we don’t see it on this side of heaven, God is still calling for uncompromising people of faith to pick up the standard of His Word and live it.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments . . .” Psalm 111:10

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So, I sit . . .

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Like Mary at the feet of Jesus, so I sit (Luke 10:39).

In His presence . . .

Learning from Him . . .

Being filled and renewed by His Spirit . . .

What a glorious position to be in!

Cares of this world all around, but today, I choose to sit . . .

At His feet, I am in a joyous place. Before His throne, I am drawing nigh to His presence. You, oh Lord, have given me this blessed space to be where You are.

I don’t have to wait for the scepter of an earthly king to be stretched out, allowing me access. No, but the King of all kings welcomes me by His grace to enter into His holy courts. In this place, our drawing near is magnetized by His love. As I bow, as my head lifts up in prayer, closer am I drawn to Thee by Your Spirit. Deeper in fellowship I go. Deeper in praise my heart doles out what is due to Your holy Name.

It will never be enough, for You are worthy of so much more, but with a heart full of assurance and faith, I enter the sacred place and sit like Mary sat, at the feet of Jesus. I take in all of who You are. I am filled with Your presence. I am renewed by Your Spirit. I am strengthened and enlivened for the day ahead.

What a joy to sit in this place. What an honor and privilege to offer my Lord praise and prayer from the sacred assembly of my heart. You inhabit the praises of Your people. You hear every prayer that flows from their lips. Just to be where You are is a treasure all its own. How grateful I am to be in this place. Oh, how Your peace washes over me, drowning out everything that is not like You. As the priests stepped their foot in the Jordan bearing the Ark, so I step through the floods all around me, and they have dried up to give me passage to my promise – to lead me to my inheritance where I can just sit and enjoy You face to face forevermore.

Oh, what a blessed place to be . . . So today, in my heart, I sit.

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details. 

Life goes by quicker than we know . . .

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“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” Ecclesiastes 2:24

It was Kurt Vonnegut that is quoted as saying, “Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the BIG THINGS.” I could not agree more. Things that we deem big often scream at us for attention, but the little things, the things that seem inconsequential, the things we can easily overlook – boy, are those precious moments huge. May we not miss the magnitude of their importance.

Life goes by quicker than we know it. May we stop to smell the roses. May we grab a hug from a friend along the way. May we cherish the tender moments God gives and enjoy the small things in life. For in them is a treasure of experiences we get to enjoy. Every day is a gift. Every day God presents us with big things to celebrate and love. We just have to slow down long enough to recognize them for the true value they are.

Have a very blessed Saturday ~

“Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.” Ecclesiastes 5:18

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details. 

There is nothing out of the reach of God

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There is nothing that is out of the reach of God. Every situation and every circumstance we face – from the biggest of the big to the smallest of the small – God is concerned about it and God can handle it.

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:27

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37

“I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.” Job 42:2

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20, 21

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In God, you will find everything you need to satisfy your soul.

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What you feed yourself on, and what you fill your mind with will determine what you produce in your life. Fill up on the goodness of the Father. Fill up on His Word. Fill up on “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights…” (James‬ ‭1:17‬). His ways are perfect and right. In Him, you will find everything you need to satisfy your soul.

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site may not be copied and pasted, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details

“Please, Pray Me Through to My Deliverance!”

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“For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer…” Philippians 1:19

There is so much hurt going on in the body of Christ.  Saints are going through trials and tribulations like never before.  As the days draw to a close, a time when our Lord Jesus Christ will come back to whisk us away to glory, the enemy has been on a vehement rampage against God’s people everywhere.

Paul, when he wrote his letter to the Philippian church, knew something of hardships.  He was imprisoned and put in a place of affliction and hurt.  So, when he writes of the faith he has, that the saints will help pray for his deliverance, he knew what he was talking about.

There is a wonderful bond in the body of Christ that is like no other.  Unity, love, and compassion mean so much to our survival that our very witness to the world depends on it.  There has been, over the past few years, an awareness of how we have hurt not only one another but our witness before the world through gossiping and the tearing down of one another.

Jesus Himself said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” (John 13:35).  Having sincere love toward another means that we would want what’s best for them.  Even if it means exalting somebody higher than yourself; putting the petitions of prayer that someone else so desperately needs above your own.

We often hear the encouragement that, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” (James 5:16).  To avail means that we have a God-given right to have the upper hand, through prayer, against any foe that would dare to rise up against one of God’s anointed ones.  How are we using that advantage?  Are we selfishly gleaning all the grapes off the vine of blessings for ourselves, or do we have enough Christian courage to let another feast off of your effectual, fervent prayers before you get a taste?

Paul openly admitted on several occasions how much he was dependent upon the prayers of those who had his back in ministry.  Despite his supposed super saint/apostleship position, he realized that the sweet aromas of selfless petitions were being put up to God on his behalf.  Because of that, he was assured that he would see deliverance.

How much care and emphasis do you really put on the body of Christ when you bow the knee to the Father?  How much is that hunger in you to see the salvation of the unsaved of your family and friends being fed?  Do you really believe that not only will your prayers move mountains in your life but also in the life of another?  You may be their only hope, whether they are born or again or not, to draw near to God and receive deliverance.

Paul puts it best in 1 Corinthians 13:1 where he says, “Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”  Are you just making a lot of noise when you pray or are you busting the gates of hell loose because your heart is hurting for another?  It was Abraham Lincoln that was quoted as saying, “I am sorry for the man who can’t feel the whip when it is laid on the other man’s back.”

There are some “whips” being laid on others; some burdens that you can help someone else carry if only we would do as the Philippian church did and pray.  Not just any prayer, but prayers that will let our brothers and sisters know assurance of seeing deliverance, too.

If you want to see true restoration in your own life, learn to put the needs of others before your own.  Job 42:10 states, “The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.”  We are to be a people who step in that place of praying for others and petitioning heaven on their behalf.  It was not until Job prayed for his friends were his losses restored.

Let’s work today in hedging people in under the arc of safety, the covering of prayer, so they will finally see deliverance, too. There may be a hurting soul quietly pleading for someone to, “Please, Pray Me Through to My Deliverance.”

Keep praying for one another!

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site may not be copied and pasted, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.

“Your Anointing is Dangerous, but it’s Worth It!”

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A shepherd boy who had been forgotten when Samuel came to call, David was treated as a “less than” by everyone who knew him the most, except God.

God, looking past his outer array saw something special in him. He instructed Samuel to, “Arise, anoint him: for this is he,” (1 Samuel 16:12). Following God’s lead, “Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward,” (1 Samuel 16:13).

Not only had he been empowered and anointed by God’s Spirit on that day, but his life has never been the same since then. Because of the anointing in his life, David experienced ups and downs; he experienced victories, and he experienced times of loss. But in the end, he is still known as one of Israel’s greatest kings; as the bloodline through whom our Lord Jesus Christ came, and as a man after God’s own heart, Acts 13:22.

What David gained, Saul lost. As David became empowered by God’s Spirit, Saul was stripped of this anointed pleasure and replaced by something evil, 1 Samuel 16:14. This made David a continual target of hatred and adversity. What started out as a relationship of love (1 Samuel 16:21) quickly turned to envy and hatred after David returned from the slaughter of the Philistines because the women of the city sang, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands,” (1 Samuel 18:7).

Saul knew he was on a downward spiral and as a bird of prey perched to claim his next victim, “Saul eyed David from that day and forward,” (1 Samuel 18:9). Even when David was sent to relieve Saul of the distressing spirit that had come upon him, his life became an endangered treasure as the javelin of hatred whisked through the air intent on taking his life, 1 Samuel 18:10-11.

The LORD was with David. The people loved David. The anointing was on David, but that didn’t mean people wouldn’t try to squash what God was trying to accomplish in his life. David was at times a fugitive, constantly on the run, but he escaped time and again in what I am attributing to the providence of God.

At one point, in a dark cave in the wilderness of En-gedi, David had the opportunity to rid himself of the provocation of Saul once and for all. Yet, David refused to come against anything or anyone who had once been anointed by God, 1 Samuel 24:6.

This did not immediately vanquish Saul’s pursuit of David. Not until Saul perished in the battle against the Philistines did David become free of this enemy who pursued his life, 1 Samuel 31.

Hear this, we may not be aligned to be a great king of Israel or the like, but the Bible tells us, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people,” (1 Peter 2:9a). The anointing on your life makes you and me something and someone special before God.

The rest of 1 Peter 2:9 states, “That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Because God has poured His oil of anointing, through the power of His Holy Spirit, upon each and everyone that belongs to Him, we are designed to make a mark for Him in this world.

This anointing will bring enemies and battles, and yes, at times may seem dangerous, yet, “He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God,” (2 Corinthians 1:21). God is the one that has anointed us, and “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

Through Jesus Christ; through the power of His Spirit in us, we have been called and blessed to walk in the power of all God designed each one of us to be. Don’t let your circumstances dictate your anointing. Don’t let the Sauls of your life pierce through what God has divinely appointed for you. David ran for his life yet God’s plan for him never faltered. He was set aside for the Master’s use, and so are we.

There will always be adversity against God’s anointing, but if God anointed you choose today to walk in all that He has blessed you to be. Your anointing may seem dangerous at times, but in the end, it is well worth it. Just ask David.

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A One-of-a-Kind Treasure

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In His heart, He saw a vision. That vision was you. In His hand, you were designed and created. You are unique and the only one who is beautifully you. A creation for His glory, you are a created masterpiece, and no worldly artist can capture the essence or create the image of all you were intended to be. God made you, you, a one-of-a-kind treasure in His hands. “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me . . .” Psalm 119:73

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Our Source of Living Water!

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As we are coming down to the end of this week, we may have faced many things that try to deplete our energy and strength. But in Jesus, we find the renewal of all we hope for and need. He is our source of Living Water! John 4:10, 14 says, “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” What a blessed gift for this day!

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Hold on to your hope . . .

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Hold on to your hope and confidence in the Lord. I know, I know. They are words easier said than done some of the time, but it does not negate the truth of who God is in our lives. He is the One who knows all, sees all, and understands all. He is the One who knows our days better than we do. He knows the beginning from the end and every plan He has for us in between (Jeremiah 29:11).

Holding on may seem downright impossible at times. Holding on can be difficult when everything else around you is pulling for you to let go. Yet, in the end, for those who do hold on, for those who endure, for those who refuse to give in and give up, there is a wonderful reward from our Father who knows us best and loves us best. James tells us, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:12).

Therefore, my friend, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD,” (Psalms 27:14). The crown, and so much more is ahead. Believe God. Believe that God loves you more than you could ever know and what He has in store for you . . . one can only imagine. Don’t focus on what you see today because it is only temporary but there is a glorious, eternal future as we move onward and upward toward our heavenly home (2 Corinthians 4:18).

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” Jeremiah 17:7

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