The fruit never lies

How do you know if a piece of fruit is good or bad? You taste it. And it doesn't take more than a split second to determine if the fruit is to your liking.
To find out how God is, He encourages us to "taste" Him. He says:
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. (Psalm 34:9).
Taste and see ... Have you "tasted" the Lord? I have, and I have found that he is GOOD - all the time.

• When I am down, He helps me up
• When I am sad, He gives me joy
• When I am sick, He heals me
• When I am poor, He supplies my needs
• When I am lonely, He is my best companion

I could go on and on, the list never ends. God is ALL IN ALL. Whatever I need, He is it!
That is good to remember when times are bad: 
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.  (Ecclesiastes 7:14).
God is always in control, if we let Him.
So today I encourage you to "taste and see that the Lord is good". Let Him into your life - 100 %, and let Him change your situation from bad to good!
He loves you!


 

The Word of God is powerful

For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).

It says in the above verse that the Word of God is powerful. What does that mean? Let's look at it in more detail. Powerful here is the Greek word energes. We recognize the modern words "energy" and "energetic", which come from energes. If something is full of energy or someone is energetic, we immediately think of action. Something is being done or someone is doing something.
The Word of God is like that - it does something, all the time and every time.
When God created the heaven and the earth, He used words. God said, and things happened. Has God changed? No, He is the same yesterday, today and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). If His Word was active and achieved what He willed then, His Word is still active and achieves what He wills today. Does God walk around on the earth saying things today? No. Today you and I are the ones God has sent to proclaim His Word. His Word in our mouths has the same power today as His Word in His mouth had then. Amazing? Absolutely!
The question that comes to mind, is of course: If God's Word is as powerful, i.e. so full of energy and active as if God Himself spoke, why don't we see more of God's acts around us?
Good question.
I believe the reason is that we don't believe that God's Word works. We don't have faith in His Word.
You see, for God's Word to work and achieve what it is sent to achieve, it needs to be backed by faith. It's not enough to recite "by His stripes I am healed", and then leave it at that. You need to believe that by Jesus' stripes you were really healed. You need to say it with force, not necessarily with a loud voice, but with a firm conviction.
Faith comes by hearing (see Romans 10:17), and the more you say God's Word, the more you hear it and the more you believe it.
To encourage you to exercise you faith muscle and say God's Word on a daily and continuous basis, remember that
EVERY WORD FROM THE BIBLE IS FILLED WITH THE SAME POWER THAT RESURRECTED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD AND CREATED THE UNIVERSE.
Now that is Good News! That is powerful news!
 

Faith - how it developes

It's some time since my last post. It's due to summer and lots of activity. But I believe I will be coming back with more posts this fall.

Today I want to take a look at faith and see how it developes. Let's start by reading from Romans 4;19-20:

Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God ...

Abraham was an old man when God told him he was going to become a father and his old wife would be the mother. How would you and I have reacted in the same situation? We probably would have laughed it away with a shrug, and gone one with our lives as before. But not Abraham. In the two verses above, we see that he took 3 steps that led to Isak's miracle birth:

1. He faced the facts
2. He did not waver
3. His faith was strengthened through his persistence

1. What facts did he face? The facts that his body was as good as dead (today we would probably say that he was impotent), and that his wife was past the age of child-bearing. She had gone through menopause.
2. In spite of these obstacles, he did not waver. What does that mean? He held fast to God's promise in spite of the physical evidences.
3. In stead of thinking in his mind that he was impotent and his wife was past the age of child-bearing, he was thinking of God's promise. "God will give me a son. God is going to bless my wife and me with a son." These thoughts threngthened his faith and led to them having Isak.

I am reminded of a couple of verses from 2 Chorintians 4:17-18:

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

The clue is where we fix our eyes (meaning our thoughts, our attention). For Abraham, the seen were the actual facts of age, but the unseen was God's promise: their son. Abraham fixed his eyes on God's promise. Where do you fix your eyes?
 

Diligence

Diligence - a word many younger people are not familiar with. But the Bible uses it several times, and having diligence, or to be diligent, is a great virtue in our Christian walk. Let's look at a few verses to see how important it is to be diligent.

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor. (Proverbs 12:24)

The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.(Proverbs 12:27)

The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. (Proverbs13:4)

The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. (Proverbs 21:5)

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. (1 Timothy 4:15)

We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. (Hebrews 6:11)

All these Scriptures show us that diligence, or to be diligent, leads to wealth, rule, posessions, satisfaction, profit, progress, and a sure hope.

So what exactly does it mean to be diligent? According to Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary, diligent means to show care and effort (in whatever one does); hard-working. And diligence means steady effort; careful hard work.

I picture in my mind someone who never gives up and who does the best he or she can no matter the task ahead.

Do you want the good qualities that are mentioned above? Then you have to be diligent about your Christian walk. (And by Christian walk, I mean your life as a Christian). Everything you do should be done with an earnest effort to do it the best way possible.

Another verse in a somewhat other context, shows us an even more important side of diligence. In 2 Peter 1:1-10 we see a list of "qualities" that should be a normal progression for a Christian person. The progression is thus:

Faith - virtue - knowledge - self-control - perseverance - godliness - brotherly kindness - love.

And then in verse 10 Peter says: Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. (My emphases).

The way I read this is; if you want to never stumble, (and who doesn't?) you have to be diligent in pursuing the qualities above. That means that diligence and to be diligent in these matters, is not an option, but a must if we want to live a Christian life that is up to God's standards.

Is it hard? Yes! To live the Christian life is hard - if you do it in your own strength. Is it impossible? No! To live the Christian life is NOT hard if you live it in the power of Jesus Christ. Ask Him today to help you achieve these qualities, and be diligent about it!

What does it mean to choose life?

Deuteronomy 30:19 says, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

God recommends us to "choose life", and when He recommends something, it's a good idea to do what He says. But what exactly does it mean to choose life? How do I choose life and not death?

In The Believers Voice of Victory magazine Victory for July 2012 there is an interesting article about choosing life. And according to this article, there are two things we must do to choose life. First of all we must choose Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. That's pretty obvious, nobody would argue against that. The other thing we must do to choose life, is choosing our words. Yes, you read correctly, to choose life you need to choose the right words.

Why is choosing the right words so important? Because Proverbs 18:21 says that Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. That means that with my words I determine whether I want life or death to rule my life.

Terri Savelle Foy has said that your life goes in the direction of your most prominent thought. And where does thoughts come from? Words. Words form your thoughts. If your words are negative, destructive and evil, your life tends to go in a negative, destructive and evil direction. If you think that you don't amount to anything and you're a good-for-nothing individual, you are headed towards "nothingness". However, if you read in the Bible what God says about you and think about God's thoughts and say them, you're headed towards a bright future.

Today God has set before you and me life and death. And to be sure we choose the right option, God says: Choose life!

When is it too late?

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near ... (Isaiah 55:6).

Is it ever too late to call upon the Lord? Will it be too late for me and you to find Him?

According to this Scripture, it will. We cannot seek the Lord when He's not to be found. We cannot find Him when He's not near. Do we know when that will happen? No, we don't. And that's the reason it's so important to choose Him TODAY!

"This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deut. 30:19).

"This day" means TODAY. Don't postpone choosing God!

"But I'm already a Christian," you might say, "I have chosen Him. What more can I do?"

You can choose Him (=His Word) EVERY DAY. Is there a difficulty, a problem, or a sickness in your life? Don't settle for anything less than God's Word for your situation. Choose Him over your circumstances. Choose His Word over your problems. Look to Him for help. If your situation looks impossible to get out of, look to Him, look to His Word. Was Jesus ever in "impossible" situations? Were His disciples ever in "hopeless" circumstances? Absolutely. But what did they do? Did they settle for the "impossible" and the "hopeless"? No, they looked to God for help, and He came through for them; not through human help and intervention only (although God some times uses people to help us out), but through supernatural means.

Are you facing an "impossible" situation today? Don't settle for mediocre or failure, press on according to God's Word, and choose TODAY that you will follow the Lord.

God bless you!

Confidence in God

Have you ever felt unsure of wether God was for real? Or if He would be there for you when and if you really needed Him? I guess we all have felt more or less uncertain about God at some time in our lives; after all, we don't see Him and we don't hear Him, at least not with our natural eyes or ears. However, when you have walked with God for some time, you just KNOW that you can trust Him, no matter what. David was a man who really needed God's help in his life. His life was litterally in danger of being taken by Saul, and he had to flee from his enemies and hide in caves and pretend he was mad to save his life. But in spite of the dangers and difficulties he encountered, he never lost his confidence in God. See what he says in Psalm 27 verse 1: "The LORDS is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" David didn't look at the outward dangers, but at the inward strength and confidence that came from God. This is what David said: 1. The Lord is my light (v.1) 2. My salvation (v.1) 3. My trust (v.1) 4. My strength (v.1) 5. My life (v.1) 6. My confidence (v.1) 7. My protector from the wicked (v.2) 8. My protector from enemies (v.2) 9. My refuge from the multitudes (v.3) 10.My help in war (v.3) Was this for David only? No, God is no respecter of persons; what He says to one and does for one, He says to all and does for all. So you and I can confidently say with David: The LORD is MY light and MY salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of MY life; of whom shall I be afraid? God bless you today to rest in God's protection and love for you.

Angels watching over me ...

I remember a song by Amy Grant: Angels watching over me everywhere I go.
It might be twenty years since she recorded that song, may be longer, but I never really forgot it. Why? Because it is true. Angels are actually watching over me and you every day.
Question: If God's angels are watching over me everywhere I go, why do accidents and bad things happen to people?
The answer is just as simple as the answer to the question: If God wants everybody to be saved, why aren't all human beings saved?
Because not everybody accepts Jesus as their Savior!
And why do accidents and bad things happen to people when God's angels are watching over us?
Because not everybody asks them to take care of them!
To activate your angels' protection, you have to be active.
See these verses from Psalm 91:
" He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in whom I trust. (Verses 1-2)
For he will give his angels charge over thee,
To keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands,
Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Verses 11-12).
What is the basis for this protection? It is that we dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty and that we SAY ...
We activate everything in the Kingdom of God by SAYING it. If you want your angels to protect you, you SAY it, you thank Him for it, and you go about your life knowing that you're in safe hands.
According to Romans 10:9, you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth to be saved. It's the same way with everything in the Kingdom of God. You read or hear something from the Bible, you believe it in your heart and you say it with your mouth. And it's yours!
So today, if you don't believe in angels, find Scriptures that show you how angels operate, fill yourself with "angel words" until faith comes. Then say it with your mouth to seal your faith. And you can be safe from all kinds of danger.
To see what God's protection is all about, read all of Psalm 91. It covers every situation you will encounter.
God bless you today!

Bigger than myself

Have you ever faced a situation that was so big, so difficult or so beyond all you can think that you just wanted to give up? I have, and it's not a pleasant place to be. You have prayed, fasted, cried, may be yelled, and nothing seems to work. Nothing seems to happen. Everything seems to be deadlocked, unmovable and stale.
But don't dispair; don't lose hope. What it seems like it not what it is.

Remember Daniel in the Old Testament? He prayed for twenty-one days, and nothing seemed to happen. However, in the spiritual realm, lots of things were happening, he just didn't see it with his natural eyes. And after twenty-one days he received answer to his prayer. You can read about it in the book of Daniel, chapter 10.

Often when we pray, we try to figure out how God shall answer our prayers; we use our human minds with our human capacities and we think about how things have been solved before. STOP! Don't make plans for God. He is SO much bigger than your and my human minds, experiences and ideas. He is the Creater, the Upholder and the Inventor of the whole universe. My and your problems are not difficult for Him, but there's an enemy that's trying to hinder God's answers.

However, like Daniel, we must not give up; we must see with our spiritual minds and eyes beyond our human reasonings and experiences, and let God be God, and He will give the answer and the solution in His time and in His way. And it will all be good.

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). I PRESS ON. I don't quit. I don't give up, but I press on till I receive my answer.

God bless you today to press on toward your answer.

Holy and without blame

How would you like to be holy and without blame? "Is that possible?" you might ask. Yes, it is possible. It is not only possible, but we're bought with a price to be holy and without blame. Look at Ephesians 1:3-4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." Can you see yourself in this Scripture? I am sure you can see God and you can see Jesus. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, He has chosen us, and He did it in His Son, Jesus Christ. But can you see yourself there in this picture? I mean - really SEE yourself as chosen, blessed, holy and without blame? Or are your shortcommings, sins and failures blocking your sight of yourself so you cannot see you as God sees you? Today I want to encourage you to get rid of your self-magnifying glasses and encourage you to put on God's Jesus-magnifying glasses. You see, you're not holy and without blame in yourself, you are holy and without blame IN HIM, in Jesus Christ. HE is the holy-and-without-blame one, and when you take your refuge in Him and make Him your Lord and Savior, you take on His holyness and blamelessness. All it takes is a "yes" from you when God calles you, and then keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith (see Hebrews 12:2). Holy and without blame? Yes, IN HIM!

Carnal or spiritual?

Carnal or spiritual? That's the question. Or we can put it another way: Do you walk in the flesh or in the spirit? To show what I mean, let's look at a few Scriptures. "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." (Romans 8:6-9). Here we see contrasts: carnal vs. spiritual; death vs. life and peace. I guess you are like most born-again believers, you know that it's God's will for you to live in His will and have life and peace, however, you find it difficult, if not impossible to do so. If that's you, I have good news for you. It is impossible! Don't even try to live the spiritually righteous life one more minute - in your own power. You cannot do it. If we could live the spiritual life God wants us to live on our own, and in our own might, Jesus died in vain. But the good news is that we cannot do it. "Did you say 'good news', Anne?" Yes, I did. The good news is that there was one person who lived the spiritually righteous life that we all want to live, and His name is Jesus. And the secret of living the spiritual life the Bible tells us to live, is to keep our minds on the things of the Spirit and to keep our minds off the things of the flesh. It's simply put a question of your mindset. What are you filling your mind with? Are you constantly letting the news fill you with fear and trembling about the future? Are you worried about your family all the time? When your children are out with their friends, are you picturing in your mind all the terrible things that can happen to them? Stop doing that! Jesus paid the price so you don't have to be afraid - never again. "But isn't that irresponsible," you might say. "It's dangerous out there." Yes, it's dangerous, but no danger in this world is greater than God's protective care and His power. It's just a question of what you set your mind on. Read Psalm 91 and see for yourself how God takes care of His children in every situation that might occur. Just one verse is enough to give me peace: "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you..." If that's what you meditate on and put in your mind, no evil thought from the devil can shake you. So what is your choice? Carnal or spiritual? Death or life and peace? It's up to you! Choose life today!

Got problems? Get rid of them!

Have you ever had a problem? Something that seemed impossible to get out of, get rid of or see the solution to?
I have, and it's not fun. Problems tend to overtake us at every corner if we don't know what to do with them.
Today I want to tell you how you can get rid of your problems. It's not an easy fix, but it's the best fix, and something that works every time.
Yesterday I watched Sid Roth's program It's supernatural on God TV. And his guest said something that made me rejoice and shout. He said:

In order to minimize the problem,

you need to magnify the solution!

I was literally jumping in my seat, because that's exactly what I have learnt during my more than fifty years with the Lord. However, I have never heard anyone say it with such simplicity.

What did he mean, and is it biblically correct?

He meant that focusing on the problem makes it bigger. The more you focus on it (i.e. thinking on it), the bigger it becomes. Satan always comes into our lives through our thought life. Like he did with Eve in the Garden: "Did God really say ...?" He planted a thought of doubt, and Eve received that thought and let it grow in her mind. And we know the tragic result, that started with that one, tiny, little thought in Eve's mind.

However, if Eve immediately had told Satan: "No, God didn't say that, He said that ..." and refused to accept Satan's words, we might still have been in the Garden today.

Is it biblically correct that maximizing the solution makes the problem go away?

Yes, absolutely. Let's look at 2 Chorintians 10:3-5: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (My emphasis).

There's a war going on, and the war is first and foremost going on i our minds. And this verse says that we do not war as "the world" does. "The world" is people who are not saved, who live according to their carnal minds. Our weapons (the weapons of people who are saved) are from God, and they are mighty to demolish strongholds. What is a stronghold? It's a thought that won't go away, it's an imagination that is so strong you believe it.

Example. Your thought is: "My family has always been poor, therefore I will always be poor". That's a stronghold, that's an evil imagination. But in Christ Jesus you are free from hereditary strongholds. In Christ you can take that thought captive and replace it with His thoughts, which in this situation could be: And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19).

If you focus your attention on that Scripture in stead of your old negative thoughts, you're on your way to a new life, a life in freedom from bondage and you can overcome every problem that comes in your way.

Start today and declare your freedom in Christ!