Author: Hal Hollister Ministry

Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” John 4:48

The Word of God is alive and powerful. Jesus taught that you and I have to live by faith and not rely on signs and wonders.

Your faith in the Word of God will bring the wonders and glory of the Lord into your life. God calls things that don’t exist as if they did.

In this story a nobleman’s son was very sick and the nobleman came to Jesus pleading for him to come to his home and heal his son. Jesus spoke the words “Go your way, your son lives.”

Jesus subtly pointed out that it was not necessary for Him to go to the nobleman’s home. In effect, He was saying you don’t need to see proof or evidence. Simply, believe in My name.

The son was healed by the words of Jesus. This miracle can happen to you. It is your unwavering faith in the promises of God without a sign that pleases God.

Today, you have to walk by faith anchored to God through the Holy Spirit. Your faith in God will make you whole!

Thought for the day: “You do not need to see Me. My words are Truth and Life. Draw near to Me by faith and I will show you My signs and wonders. I am above all things!”

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Romans 12:1

 

If you really want to know Jesus, you have to give all of yourself to Him. You can’t try to please Him with your talents, works, and sacrifices. They are of no real value to Him until you have offered all of yourself to God.

Then He can begin a holy work transforming you into a temple of God reflecting the qualities of God. The originality of God living in you will create an outpouring of His life touching and influencing others.

In essence, you give up the right to yourself. You give ownership to God and become His follower. The work of God has to start initially within you and deal with your personality, motives, and resistance to letting God have all of you.

Your moral obligation to life is the responsibility of God. He will show you the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. He is your Keeper!

The truth of becoming a new creature in Christ Jesus begins with abandonment to Him. God can’t do His amazing and beautiful work of creation when you stand in the way. If you allow God to have His way with you, He will transform you into a powerful witness for Him.

People will see God in you!

Thought for the day: “I want all of you. Come to Me and I will consecrate you with My Holy Spirit. You will live with Me and be My witness to the world.”

 

 

 

“You did not choose me, but I chose you” John 15:16

You and I tend to think that we made this wonderful decision for Jesus and should somehow be involved in the path of our life. Jesus would respond “You missed it again”!

Jesus said that you have not chosen Me. I have chosen you. Not only has Jesus chosen you but He has foreordained His path for your life. You come to Jesus because the Spirit of God bears witness with your inner spirit that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The decision making started with God not with you.

Your responsibility as a believer is to walk with God and be a light for Him. This is a life of prayer and praise, filling yourself with His Word, and living in oneness with God through His Spirit.

God does not want you to think for Him, plan for Him, or try to determine His purposes for you. He knows you better than you know yourself and His ways are perfect.

God simply wants you to trust Him for your every need and be obedient to the leading of His Spirit. This is how you can please God.

The purposes of God will stay hidden below your consciousness until God chooses to reveal them to you. As you grow in spiritual maturity, it can be even more difficult to figure out God’s plan for your life.

The best course of action is to focus on how you can please God today and forget about the future. You cannot chart out your life because you are not God.

He has chosen your path!

Thought for the day! “I am the beginning and the end. I chose you before you were born and My Spirit lives in you. Follow Me and I will show you the abundant life. I am a perfect God.”

“The Lord is the strength of my life” Psalm 27:1

You can’t really figure God out so the goal is to make Him the strength of your life. God is mysterious, unpredictable, and controversial. His ways are different than your ways. It is impossible to keep pace with God.

God wants you to recognize your weaknesses and draw upon His strength. This is how you can lead a life submitting to God. “The Lord is my light and my salvation” changes from words on a printed page to a living truth in your heart.

The best method of dealing with God is make Him the strength of your life through prayer, His Word, and having an openness to His Spirit. If you do these things and commit each day to God, then you can live with confidence that God is with you.

If God wants you to do something, He will make it very clear. You don’t have to strive or question God. Wait upon Him!

You and I can’t control or influence God so just make Him the centerpiece of your life and walk by faith trusting God for your every need.

Ask Jesus to forgive your sins and seek to lead a life pleasing to Him. Then leave the future up to God!

Thought for the day: “I am the Lord and there is no one like Me. Trust Me for your every need. I want to be your source for life. My ways are perfect. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32

Dealing with Jesus brings light into your soul. You see yourself for who you are and it is not a pretty picture. You realize that you fall so short of the magnificence of Jesus!

Jesus will never let you off the hook or excuse you. If you want Jesus you have to look within yourself and be willing to change. This is a life long process.

Sin diminishes the life of Jesus within you. Some of His power and glory departs until you get right with God.

The solution to sin is to abide in the living Word of God. This is how you will be set free and enjoy the presence of God.

You abide in God by inhaling in His Word, praying to Him, and living by faith. You can never be perfect in the eyes of Jesus except through His blood. This is your precious path to God.

Abiding in Jesus is not an off and on discipline. It is a conscious process of coming into oneness with God through the Holy Spirit.

You literally move and live and have your being in Him. Life revolves around God.

Your faith in God will bring His righteousness into your life. It is the only way to experience the holiness and purity of God.

The Son will make you free!

Thought for the day: “You cannot earn My righteousness. Your faith in Me will make you whole.”

“My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:2

In the middle of the night God spoke this verse in Psalm 121 to me.

You and I have to pray for help for whatever your need is and then wait for God to bring His help. Without the help of God your efforts will be fruitless. Sometimes the help of God comes immediately like when you pray for strength or wisdom and sometimes God takes time to bring His help.

The point is you cannot be successful without the help of God. Jesus said if you love Me keep My commandments and I will pray the Father and He will send you His helper who will abide with you forever.

Moses would have failed without the help of God. Joshua never could have been able to claim the Promised Land without the help of God. The dead corpse that touched Elisha’s bones could never come back to life without the help of God. Nothing is impossible with God!

You do not have to fear or become distraught over the challenges in your life. The Lord is at your right hand and will preserve your going out and your coming in.

The help of the Lord is your only sustaining hope and He will do for you what you can never do for yourself. God is about victory and He will never fail you.

Seek the help of the Lord and then watch Him do His mighty works and you will tremble over His power and glory.

Thought for the day: “I am the Lord and there is no one like Me. I want to be your helper and everlasting God. Call on Me and you will see My greatness.”

 

 

“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:10-11

When you try to live drawing upon your own energy and sufficiency, you diminish the life of God in you. In reality, God decreases and self increases!

Jesus died to sin once for all and He now lives for God. He will never die for sin again. Your sin died on the cross with Jesus so you have to recognize that sin has no dominion over you. And, you can be alive to God and live for Him.

Walking with God is a continual process of letting go. Self keeps getting in the way of God and Jesus has to deal with our stubbornness and neglect of God.

You and I try to contain God. He can come live with me here but He is forbidden to enter this part of my life. The boundaries have to go away if you want the fullness of His life. You can’t cut corners with God. He wants all of you.

Jesus is serious when He says you can be alive with Him and filled with His abundant life. The problem is you and I choose our life not the life of God. This is how we hinder the power of God!

Letting go is making a decision to be united with God through His Spirit and living in oneness with Him. It is taking every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ and allowing God to reign in every aspect of your life. It is a lifelong process.

Thought for the day: “Come to Me and leave your old life behind! I will give you a better life than you can ever give yourself. I want to give you more than you ask or think. I am a God of greatness.”

And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Judges 7:2

God raised up Gideon to defeat the Midianites who were terrorizing the Israelites. Gideon created an army of over 30,000 to go to war against this enemy nation.

God looked over this situation and said to Gideon your army is too big and if I give you the victory the Israelites will claim the glory and I will be forgotten.

God took steps for Gideon to reduce his army to 300 and then He told Gideon they were ready to encounter the enemy. God likes it when the odds are stacked against Him.

This is an amazing truth and illustrates the heart of God. He desires to exalt Himself when you are weak and God wants the glory to come to Him at all times.  He wants you to attribute all your success to Him and not to your own strength, resources, or power.

In fact, God delights in creating an almost insurmountable situation where you are backed up against a wall with no way out.

Then God can demonstrate His greatness and all the glory will come to Him. You will personally witness that it is not by might, nor by strength but by His Spirit. And, all those around you will see the glory of God at work.

So next time you are facing a challenge come to God and ask Him to intercede in a way that will bring glory to Him.

Remember, when you are weak and lacking God can do mighty works for you. He thrives in helping those who admit their weakness and cry out to Him!

Thought for the day: “I turn defeat into victory for those who call upon My name and follow My ways. I want all the glory to come to Me for my greatness and power. There is no one like Me.”

“For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28

Do you take God seriously?

The apostles took God very seriously. They lived, and moved, and breathed in Jesus, the Son of God.

If you are a believer, you have to trust that God lives in you in the essence of the Holy Spirit. This is the starting point to walking with God.

Secondly, you have to believe that God personally wants to be involved in your life. You live by the truth “He is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your pathway”. God will make His presence known by infusing you with His strength, wisdom, and protection. He is a living God!

God wants to share Himself with you and be involved in every aspect of your life. He also wants to go before you and lead you into His perfect pathway.

God lives by His Word so if you pray sincerely and commit your works to God each day, He will establish His thoughts in you. You will have the mind of Christ at work in your life!

The Holy Spirit is the embodiment of the resurrected power of God. The power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in you and this is your source of life.

You have to be right with God to walk with Him. You can’t hide your sin. You have to make a conscious decision to live a life pleasing to God and allow the Spirit of God to search your heart and correct you.

You will never be able to measure up to God but you can have a genuine heart attitude to seek the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. The blood of Jesus is your only hope for the forgiveness of sins and restoration to God.

Walking with God is about centering your life on the person of Jesus Christ and looking to Him for your every need. Faith is trusting in the invisible God and waiting patiently for Him.

The spiritual man does not depend on the world for help. He looks to God who has power and authority over the heavens and earth. There is a deep and subtle attitude of recognizing the sovereignty and power of God but not dismissing the ability of God to work through people, institutions, and governments.

You can’t experience the fullness of God unless you abandon yourself completely to Him. If you play act through life you are depriving yourself of the richness of the Living God.

Thought for the day:

“Do you really believe who I Am? I have power and dominion over all things. Life begins and ends with Me. Put aside your stubbornness and come live with Me by faith! I will show you My greatness.”