“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.” Psalm 34:15

You can’t get the attention of God unless you reach out to Him.

You need two things to get the favor of God; a clean heart and unyielding faith and obedience in His words.

The clean heart comes through the blood of Christ. Confess your sins and turn away from darkness. Jesus will cover you with His blood and make you blameless in His sight.

The righteousness of God comes through your faith in His promises and your obedience to His voice. It will never come to you through works or sacrifices.

God isn’t looking for perfection; He is looking to accomplish His work through an imperfect believer filled with character defects.

Abraham believed God and was obedient to His instructions. He followed God and was credited with the righteousness of God.

Reach out to God with a serious desire to do His will. Ask God “How can I please you today?”

Then be still and listen to the Living Christ.

God will speak what is on His mind in His perfect timing.

The eyes of God see everything about you. He knows you better than you know yourself.

God will honor your prayers and cries if you walk by faith and are obedient to His voice.

All you need is a heart willing to follow God regardless of the cost or lack of any logic.

This will get His attention!

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight” Psalm 19:14

We all complain about our troubles. At times, I have been a chronic complainer and have faced the rebuke of God.

We complain because we don’t get our way.

Complaining starts with the onset of troubles. Grumbling diminishes the power of the Holy Spirit and takes away your joy and peace.

God hates grumbling and complaining. He considers this behavior an insult to His character.

We have the mistaken mindset that troubles are not the will of God. Troubles are created or permitted by God.

The revelation of Christ is accepting that troubles perfect you in the sight of God.

God delivered the Israelites out of slavery and got very mad at them over their continued complaining and lack of faith.

God punished the Israelites by sending them on a forty year zig zag journey. All the adults died in the wilderness and never entered the Promised Land.

The mature Christ follower is a powerful witness for God and a fountain of Living Water on the outside but on the inside he is an embattled individual facing crushing burdens.

Complaining provokes God because you are doubting His power and dominion.

The challenge is to accept that burdens are the will of God and cast them on the shoulders of God. This will give you freedom, peace and joy.

The burdens are the way of life for a believer. You are called by God to die to self and live for Him. This cannot happen unless you become crucified like Jesus who carried the burden of dying on a cross with Him every moment of His life.

God promises to deliver you but in the seasons of troubles Jesus wants you to praise Him with a heart of thanksgiving.

“The peace that surpasses all understanding” Philippians 4:6

There is a direct relationship between the peace of Jesus and the circumstances in your life. When life is good God is great.

Peace tends to disappear when the troubles come. We become overcome by fear and anxiety. And, many times we blame God for our troubles.

If you lack the peace of God you have to look into yourself. Something is blocking the Holy Spirit. It might be your lack of faith, emotions or a specific behavior.

We wake up each morning with challenges, feelings and needs.

The junction always leads to two different roads; we either trust God implicitly or yield to self. Or, sometimes we agree to trust God on some matters and yield to self on other matters.

Let’s look at the burdens you face each day. They may have been engineered by God, your mistakes or the actions of others.

Does it really make any difference? You cannot assign blame for the troubles. They exist and God wants you to give them to Him.

The mature Christ follower accepts the troubles without blaming and casts them on the shoulders of God. He walks by faith believing God will deliver Him regardless of the mountains to leap over. This attitude will cover you with the peace of Christ.

Now back to the junction and making choices for today.

Develop the mindset God wants to bless your desires. Then give the Holy Spirit authority over your actions. He will guide you in a smooth pathway and show you what to do and what to let go of for today. God has taught me over the years there is a time for a Macdonald’s burger and a time for a more lavish meal. Yield your decision making to Him.

The peace of Christ will allow you to live above your troubles!

“There is no one righteous, not even one” Romans 3:8

God spoke to me recently about the contrast between Jesus and a human being.

The revelation from the Holy Spirit is you can never match up to the standards of God and don’t even try.

Jesus doesn’t want you to try to be like Him because this is impossible. Jesus wants you to be yourself and ask Him to fill you with His life. Then you can live and move and have your being centered in Him.

As a human being you and I are plagued with moral decay. This nature just doesn’t disappear in a flash through a prayer or self control. In fact, it never completely leaves you until your entry into heaven.

Jesus desires to give you a strong compunction about sin and a moral compass aligning with His values. The goal is steady improvement and never perfection.

The Christ follower accepts his impoverished condition and doesn’t come across as a religious or pious individual.

This attitude of the heart comes through prayer, an open heart, and the blood of Jesus.

You have to be “In Christ” to live a life pleasing to God. The conflict is between the Spirit and the flesh.

To be “In Christ” invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life and old things will pass away and all things will become new.

People will see you as a genuine Christ follower with humility and respect for others.

“The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.” Psalm 94:11

You might be well educated or possess a high IQ but this will never give you the ability to think like God.

You can read the Bible endlessly but this will just create a quandary.

Your cannot think like God because His thoughts come from a source out of your universe.

The thoughts of man originate in a mind that is grounded in self and the ways of the world. To be blunt, God calls your thoughts foolishness.

You cannot think for God but you can have the mind of Christ. This comes to you from the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Christ and dwells in all believers.

God speaks to those who live for Him above all else with a burning desire to do His will.

The mind of Christ is given to those who submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer invites the thoughts of God to those who learn to be still and listen for His voice.

Read the Word of God and ask God to imbed His curriculum into your heart. This gives God the ability to relate to you through His words.

God is holy and does not to waste His precious words on an unclean person.

Pray for Jesus to cover you with with His blood so He can speak into a pure and blameless vessel.

Seek the words of the Lord. They are pure and life changing and to be treasured above all else!

“You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Matthew 8:26

What would you do if you were stranded on a boat in a stormy sea? Panic or reach out for help?

Last night I was in a similar position in a dream from God. I was fearful and did not know what to do. I reached out to God and His arm stretched out to protect me. Then the dream was over.

We all get in circumstances where there is no way out. This causes anger, fear, and confusion.

The adversities of life are engineered by God. They are designed to perfect your faith and teach you how to walk with Jesus.

The only option for a believer is to reach out to God for help. Jesus told His disciples they were fearful and lacking faith when they were on the boat in a stormy sea.

Jesus was sleeping; the disciples were in a state of panic.

We are human beings unlike God and often become overcome by anxiety over difficult circumstances.

The word from God about dealing with adversity is “aplomb” which means you can have assurance and confidence in the promises of God.

The command is to reach out to Jesus by faith. Ask Him for wisdom for dealing with your predicament.

Walking with God in a whirling eddy is believing and living by faith in the promises of Jesus. It is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of Christ.

Wait patiently on God and do not panic because your situation is in His powerful hands.

Most importantly, do not react to your feelings. This will only dig your hole deeper. Find your joy and peace in the sufficiency of Christ.

Paul and Silas were in jail and possibly facing death. They sang praises to God and waited upon Him by faith. God responded by sending an angel to break them out of jail.

God is not asleep. He may take some time or work in an unorthodox manner but He will deliver you. He is under the obligation of His word to rescue you.

“Christ is in you” Romans 8:10

The word of God today is juxtaposition which is defined as two things being merged close together creating a contrasting effect.

This is the dynamic union of Christ and a human being. The contrast is the glaring difference between light and darkness.

You see the frailty of your inner nature compared to the greatness and glory of God.

You experience the reality of the Living Jesus and not a figment of religion.

This synergy of man with God creates a new creature in Christ filled with the life of Jesus.

The reality of the light pierces your heart as God reveals your inner nature and convicts you of sin.

The light gives you insight into your motives and how they compare to the values of God.

God seals you with the Holy Spirit and gives you direct access to Jesus. This enables you to live in the light and provides a link to all the attributes of Christ.

Juxtaposition gives you the mind of Christ. You hear the voice of God.

The Holy Spirit gives you strength, wisdom, joy and guides your pathway.

The light reveals your vulnerabilities and the need for the sufficiency of Jesus. We live in the darkness of the world but we are not of the world.

We are a human vessel filled with Living Water and a powerful witness for the name of Jesus.

Juxtaposition creates a burning fire inside you to live and move and have your being in Christ.

“Not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus made a commitment to God that you and I will never be able to duplicate. As human beings, we have to view abandonment as a process which has no ending on earth.

What does it really mean to abandon yourself to God?

It begins in the depth of your heart and not on the exterior surface of your life.

What happens in the heart will transcend onto the surface of your life. It can never be the opposite.

God does not want you to have an emotional relationship with Him. Your emotions will betray you and your faith will be up and down.

Jesus wants you to have a heart of obedience and submit to Him regardless of the cost or lack of understanding.

This is a transaction of exchanging your will and autonomy for the will of God. You agree to give up your rights to follow Jesus.

The transaction with God is not about your pathway or purpose in life. This is the business of God not yours. He will reveal your future in His perfect timing.

As a believer you don’t have the ability to discern your pathway with God through human logic or your own ideas. God does not want your help in shaping the direction of your life.

Be content to walk with God one day at a time. Ask Jesus for His wisdom for today. Jesus lives in the routine and sometimes boring moments of life. This is where He likes to reveal Himself to you.

Walking with God is always about today. Your future with God is in a dense fog.

Jesus is always searching your heart looking for abandonment and obedience.

What are you lacking today?

“And the government will be upon His shoulder.” Isaiah 9:6

The word from God today is “dabbling in Christ”. The definition of dabbling is a superficial or intermittent interest in something.

In the spiritual context, we go in and out of Christ. We go in because we want something and then we go out. At times we all suffer from this behavior. We go in with motives to take from God but fail to find out what God wants from us.

We go out because we are human beings designed to live for self and satisfy our needs.

God wants to give His life to you but He does not want you to go out. He wants you to stay connected to Him at all times.

The government of God is on the shoulders of Jesus. We have to live under His authority. You can accomplish this by inviting the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life. He is the life of Christ and lives in all believers. He desires to teach you the values of Jesus and guide you into a smooth pathway. The Spirit wants to help you make good decisions and fill you with wisdom, strength, and joy. He never sleeps.

If you live under the authority of the Holy Spirit you will not go out from Jesus and return to living for self.

God has given you the mind of Christ. This is how He keeps you on track with His will. The Spirit fills you with the thoughts and wisdom of God so you can navigate through all the moments of life pleasing God.

No one is perfect. So you will go out (or relapse) at times but God is waiting for you to come back under His covering.

I live so you can live. There is no one like Me!

“Pray without ceasing” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Praying is coming into contact with the Living Christ. You cannot pray effectively without understanding the attitudes and mind of God about His priorities.

Jesus wants to guide your prayer life if you give Him the freedom. He will take you where He wants to go not where you want to go.

Prayer is listening and responding to God. Be still and let God orchestrate your prayer life.

Prayer begins with God.

God has several objectives in prayer.

He wants you to come to Jesus asking for His blood to cover you, forgive all your sins and restore you to Himself.

He wants to teach you the values of Christ and purify your motives.

He wants to convict and correct you.

He wants you to reach out to Jesus for your every need and walk by faith believing in His promises. He wants you to have a lifestyle built on faith.

He wants to heal your emotions and physical infirmities. Ask by faith and receive.

He wants you to make intercession for His purposes. This is allowing the Holy Spirit to bring the names of people or topics that are on His mind. God doesn’t need any help from you. Let Him set the agenda.

He wants you to pray with the power of the Holy Spirit to bring down strongholds.

He wants to speak prophesy to you about the future and make personal promises to you. He is omniscient and operates without a timeline.

He wants you to pray and bind the power of Satan from having any influence in your life.

Prayer is the most important work you will ever do for God. We want to accrue bonus points working for God but He wants you to do His work through prayer laboring for His purposes.

Prayer brings wisdom, order and joy into your day.

Prayer equips you to be a powerful witness for Jesus.

Prayer is a conversation with God which has no boundaries.