“There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

“Commit your works to the Lord,
And your thoughts will be established.” Proverbs 16:12

You cannot look to worldly standards to make your decisions. This is because the world is not under the authority of God. The world will lead you away from God and cause you pain and suffering.

If you live by intellect or rational thinking without the Spirit of God guiding your mind and actions, this will also lead you astray.

You must look to the Creator of the world for your wisdom. This wisdom is pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

As a believer, the Lord is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your pathway. God wants to guide you in a direction that will lead to peace, protection, and a prosperous life.

You find this wisdom by submitting yourself to God. You make God the centerpiece of your life and commit your works each day to Him. The Holy Spirit lives inside you and He desires to fill your mind with His thoughts.

You become linked to God through prayer, His Word, and walking by faith trusting in Jesus for all your needs.

You live in the world but you are not of the world. You are a son of God and you live for Him. Your priority is obedience to God! This will lead you to the living God and give you the mind of Christ!

“It happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar!” Judges 13:20

This is a remarkable story about a husband and wife without children. God sent an angel to inform Manoah and his wife that they would have a baby and he would be used by God to defeat the Philistines.

At first they believed this was a man and invited him to stay for dinner. However the Angel of the Lord ascended up to heaven in a flame of fire.

When Manoah and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground and Manoah said “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”

There are many wonderful truths in this story but I believe the vision of the Angel ascending up to heaven in the flame of fire represents the essence of God.

You see the glory and power of God at work and the reaction from these two people. Manoah believes they will die because no one can come near to God and live.

This couple now realize they are just two mere mortals and can never comprehend the magnificence of God.

God chose a holy plan to communicate the upcoming birth of Sampson, their son, and his mission for God. Manoah and his wife will never be the same after facing God.

When you experience the living God, you shake in fear over His power and invincibility. Like Moses at the burning bush, you hide your face in fear!

This story does not live in the Old Testament. It lives today in all who believe and worship almighty God. This same God is standing by and ready to shake your world but you must come to Him!

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

The starting point to a relationship with God is this verse from the Sermon on the Mount. You have to recognize the utter weakness of your inner nature and that you can never match up to God.

It is like seeing yourself for who you really are and understanding your only hope for the purity of God must come from outside of yourself.

Jesus did not come to save righteous people. He came to save sinners and call them to repentance. He associated with prostitutes, tax cheats, and adulterers.

Jesus said the healthy (self righteous) have no reason to call a doctor. You will never be healthy on your own and your only hope for spiritual health and purity is almighty God.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This includes you and me.

The pathway to the kingdom of God is repentance and living through the Spirit of Jesus who resides within you.

 

“Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.” Hebrews 3:9

Why did most of God’s chosen people die in the desert? God made a promise to the Israelites just like He has made to you.

The Israelites did not believe God and turned to worshipping other gods. They fell into unbelief and doubt and complained about the lack of God to provide for their needs.

They did not want God’s timetable. They wanted to see God work quickly and lacked the patience and the faith to wait upon God.

Most of the Israelites died in the desert and never entered the Promised Land. God looked down on them and judged their actions. They fell short of God’s standards and were punished for their actions.

This is the same God who is looking down on you and judging your heart. He is a God of retribution and He blesses and curses.

God’s priority in your life is your faith and obedience to Him. It is never about the circumstances in your life. It is maintaining an unwavering faith in God and obeying the voice of God.

When God calls you to a specific action, you will not be able to see the end game or understand why you are on a course with God that does not make any sense.

If you are at this point, you are in the perfect will of God and His plan makes total sense to Him. The goodness of God is waiting for you at the end of your trip!

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

Learn to go before God with a quiet mind, body, and spirit. Breathe in the Spirit of the Creator and allow Him to have complete access to your mind.

God is Holy and pure and without sin. Ask for forgiveness and cleansing with the blood of His Son.

The world is moving, life is about relationships, and accountability. Evil abounds all around you. Honor God by giving Him the time to speak to you and fill you with His presence.

God is the only person you can trust. He desires to give you wisdom and strength.

When you are still before the Lord, you are expressing your desire to do His will and not yours. He knows your needs better than you do so allow Him to tell you what He needs from you.

Let God make the agenda for your next meeting! He is the author and creator of all things!

“Apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Jesus said He is the vine and you are the branch. To receive from God you have to be attached to Him. Apart from God you can do nothing!

You become attached to God through His Spirit living inside you. This involves prayer, praise, and allowing the Word of God to dwell richly in you. Commit your works each day to God and He will fill you with His thoughts. Listen to the voice of God. He desires to speak to you.

You have to reach the point in your heart where you are dedicated to the same commitment Jesus had with His Father “Not My will but yours be done”. This will cause the richness of God to flow through you and bring a record breaking harvest.

He loves you!

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
The plans of His heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” Psalm 33:10-12

There are powerful and rich leaders in government, business, and commerce. They have many advisors helping them in their plans and leadership.

The counsel and plans of these powerful men and women will amount to nothing and will turn into rubble and waste without God.

Pragmatic or humanistic thinking leads nowhere! God laughs at the man who thinks He can rely on his intellect, riches, and power to make good decisions. He has no chance for success without God.

The man who recognizes that God is the Creator and over all things and seeks His wisdom and guidance will be successful and blessed by God. This man fears the Lord and has a heart to please God.

The counsel of the Lord lasts forever and will lead to an abundant life. You must build your life upon God and His Word. This will lead to prosperity. There is no other way!

Your inheritance is with God not the world. God will fill you with overwhelming goodness and protection. The world will lead you to a life of waste and devastation.

Make God the centerpiece of your life. Wake up each day with a fear of the Lord and a priority to follow Him in all your ways.

He is the Lord!

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

Walking with God is about developing a personal and intimate relationship with the living God. It is seeking God out with a deep and sincere interest to please Him.

It takes a lot of practice to walk with God. This is because God doesn’t think or act like you. You can’t understand God through the scholarly approach or intellectual insights.

You learn spiritual truth by becoming linked to God through His Spirit. You will learn about the personality of God and understand His feelings. You will find out God is controversial and sometimes unpredictable.

Many times your standards of right and wrong will not align with God. You will find out that God judges you by your heart and not so much by your actions. He will cause you to examine your motives in decision making and all your actions.

The priority with God is always about your faith in Him. Are you living in the invisible world of faith and trusting Him and not your circumstances? He wants you to trust Him implicitly with every detail of your life and not compromise with the ways of the world.

If you are just dangling your feet in the water and holding back from taking a plunge, God will engineer challenges in your life to get your attention and to cause you to lean on Him. He wants you to dive in and hold nothing back.

God will work on the seriousness of your commitment until you are free from self and willing to follow Him regardless of the cost to you.

He is looking to find anything you value more than Him. There is no individuality or privacy with God. Your life must be an open book to Him.

God wants to give you an abundant life but He also wants you to understand and appreciate that He is the source of all good things. Never take credit for the successes in life. They belong to Him.

Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
those who are nothing but potsherds
among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
‘What are you making?’Does your work say,
‘The potter has no hands’? Isaiah 45:9

God has been speaking to me about potsherds. This word is mentioned three times in the Bible and refers to a fragment of pottery.

You have been created by the hand of God and like clay molded into the image of God. You are a creature of God and He is your Maker. Do you really believe you have any right to question the work of your Creator? Or, deny that your origin came from God?

This is a stern warning to all those who question the authenticity of God as the creator of life. You are just a fragment of God’s handiwork and your life is in His hands. You can go from dust to dust or live with God forever.

Don’t ever doubt God or take Him for granted! God is over every detail in your life whether you acknowledge Him or not. He controls your destiny and you are just like a small fragment of pottery in His world.

God wants you to acknowledge Him as your Creator and Lord and accept that no one can compare to Him.

Worship the Lord with all your heart, your mind, and your strength. He made you!

 

“But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?” Galatians 4:9

This statement by Paul is urging you to turn away from worshipping God through laws and rituals. The laws created under the old covenant are weak and burden you with trying to do things to please God. You become enslaved attempting to keep laws that are impossible for anyone to obey.

The old covenant died on the cross with Jesus. There are no laws in existence any longer. The path to God is to place your faith in Jesus, His Son. The moment you make this decision you become adopted by God and receive His Spirit to live inside you.

If you try to justify yourself with God by keeping His laws you will bring condemnation upon yourself. You will see how weak and powerless you are and a failure to God.

Another misconception is the idea if you do something for God, He is obligated to bless you. Your works entitle you to nothing. God will bless you when you live by faith and depend on Him for all your needs.

Abraham heard the voice of God and believed God. This act of faith brought the righteousness of God into Abraham’s life.

It’s not about going to church, attending home groups, reading the Bible or spiritual books, or participation in religious programs. There is nothing wrong with these activities but they will never justify you with God. You are justified to God by your faith and obedience to Him.

Faith is a symbiotic relationship with the living God. You submit yourself to God and He becomes your source for all good things.