Where is your faith

Is your faith in your bank account?  In your job, your boyfriend, or girlfriend? Is your faith in the music you listen to?  There are some really powerful lyrics out there that if you listen to enough you will be faith bankrupt! 

Faith activates God ... Fear actives the enemy, where are you right now?  Are you carrying God’s burdens on your shoulders or are you trusting him to do exceeding, abundantly for you?  I know as a parent you hate to be the last one to know something your children is going thru.  They tried figuring it out themselves, then seeked their friends and family and guess who comes last… mom or dad?  How do you think God feels if the first person we seeked was ourselves and then friends and family. Go to God last?  Where is your faith?  When we get some news .the first thing we need to do is trust God and know that God has your back! Once we release our thought with doubt, the enemy has been activated and knows how to get in place doubt, disbelief and depression on you.  Then you have to fight more to dig up your faith since he has your mind all cluttered.  God says in Matthew 9:29. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.  That is a powerful scripture saying what your individual faith is what will happen.  If you think of that first, it’s easy to declare and believe knowing it will happen.   What are your feelings telling you in a troubled time?  Do you remember the story of Isaac blessing his sons when he became blind and was nearing his death?  When Jacob, the younger son wanted to steal his older brother’s birthright, his mother helped him to disguise himself as Esau.  Esau was a hairy man and Jacob had smooth skin.  So Rebekah wrapped Jacob’s hands in goat’s hair and brought Esau’s clothes for him to wear. 

Jacob went to his father, pretending to be Esau.  Isaac asked him to come near so he could feel him.  Then Isaac told him that he sounded like Jacob but he felt like Esau.  Isaac decided that he would trust what he felt instead of what he heard in the sound of Jacob’s voice.  It matters what you hear!  The bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God in Romans 10:17.  When you hear the truth, you need to believe it.  Isaac decided to trust what he felt over what he’d heard.  He made the wrong decision and gave the birthright destined for the firstborn to his second son.  He was deceived by what he felt.  If we let our feelings run your life, they will mess you up.  Stand on God’s word and not activate the enemy!  Sometimes I don’t feel God anymore, it doesn’t matter what you feel. Victory is not a feeling, it’s a fact of faith. Sometimes I feel saved and sometimes I don’t, but I am saved by faith, not by feelings. When you are in a situation, step back, remove the emotion, seek God so you can hear him clearly and you will receive an abundance of guidance.   We talked about feelings, so what about do you believe what you see?  I think that’s a great deceiver! 

Do you accept defeat by what you see?  Has a promise of God been aborted because you chose to believe what you saw instead of the promise God has given you.  In today’s economy, I believe that is becoming a huge hindrance as more and more people read the stats on unemployment and employment opportunities and give up before they start.  I have been truly blessed; I have headhunters call me weekly asking me to work with some fantastic job offers. I am no different than you, they can call you to.  I don’t believe what the media or newspapers say, I know God Almighty has what I need and it will come to pass.  Sight is a powerful “king” that rules through your senses.  When Jacob was an old man and his son brought to them the many colored coat of Joseph, he believed what his eyes told him.  The brothers had sold Joseph to get rid of him.  But they dipped Joseph’s coat in goat’s blood so that it looked like Joseph had been attacked by a wild beast. 

Jacob saw the bloody coat and declared that an evil beast had devoured his son.  That was the picture that the jealous brothers of Joseph had painted for their grief stricken father.  He said, “without a doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.”

Without a doubt, is that you?  Without a doubt means believing with perfect faith.   But it was not true, even though it was totally believable to Jacob’s eye.  Is that you today? Are your eyes deceiving you from God’s word?   Are you looking at your physical illness or injury and with the pain saying without a doubt I can’t do this anymore. Listening to the doctors report that this will be a difficulty surgery and a long recovery but we are hopeful?  God almighty is our Doctor, our surgeon and by his stripes we are healed!  Don’t let your feelings or eyesight run your race, God is running your race with you!

In your faith fight, you are also going to have to put your foot on the neck of what you hear.  You are going to hear a lot of discouraging words and accusations.  The enemy will whisper to you to quit, to give up because you can’t make it anyway.  He will speak fear to you:  “you are going bankruptcy. You need to take those pills, no one loves you, no one will marry you at your age, there are no good men or woman left out there. Does any of these come across in your head? 

2 Timothy 1:7 saying “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

With the economy the way it is, people losing their homes in foreclosure, job loss, downsizing in companies of 30 years, losing pensions, personal bankruptcy, what are you hearing?  What are you tuned into each day?  Is it waking up depressed and trying to put a smile on to face the day but screaming inside with fear and sadness?  Are you waking up trusting your faith and standing on God’s word that NO matter what it looks like, feels like or what I see around me going on, God has a bigger, bolder and more than you can imagine outcome for you.  It’s not what we can pray or believe, God always delivers something much more and much better, but is your faith at work?  You will never hear God’s word telling you doubtful words.  You will never hear God is not faithful or that he doesn’t care.  God does come on his time, not ours.  The bible teaches that in spite of what you are hearing around you, faith will believe God’s faithfulness and fight for your victory! Put your foot on the neck of what you have been listening to that is contrary to God’s word! 

When Jesus was praying for the Father to glorify his name, God the Father spoke to him from heaven.  He said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” scripture reference John 12:28.  Some people standing around heard Him and thought it was thunder. They could not recognize the voice of God; it sounded like a loud noise to their ears. Isn’t that amazing?  Someone can hear the Word of God and another standing right beside them can only hear a bunch of racket.

What you hear is important. You have to decide to put your foot on the neck of the racket you hear and listen for the word of the Lord over your life.  Don’t listen to suggestions of defeat.  I know as teens it’s important to know all the current hip hop music, however the underlying lyrics that are in there is all sex, drugs or disrespect.  Is that what you want to feed your mind while you are studying for that exam, applying for that job or hanging with your friends?  Really what positive encouragement are you getting to keep you going day to day. Praise, Praise, Praise is what you need to make it another day!  Keep those promises and dreams alive with encouraging words..   I heard for every negative thing, people will tell 10 people… for every positive thing that happens, they tell 2 people.  Which are you, passing the negative or the positive.  I know I want to be known as a warrior for God and any giant I face is under my feet and speak positive and encouraging words.

So I shall ask again… where is your faith? If you meditate on God’s word day and night, your faith will always come first, fear will have to work twice as hard to get to you.  I hope this has been a blessing to you.

Closed Doors and Open Doors

This past week has been a journey that I think a lot of people can relate to.  Walking in faith sometimes is hard so we take things into our own hands.  Why ask God for help when we got it all figured out right?  I received a call from a headhunter who was looking to fill a position.  I kindly told her I wasn’t interested, she continued to talk and increased the pay, benefits etc and of course it caught my attention.  I said oh hold on,  I’m listening now, go ahead.  She continued to tell me more and schedule an interview on Monday.  I was booked the day of the interview so I had to move things around, but I made it work.  The interview screening went well, she said she hasn’t found anyone with the experience I have and there is only one other candidate with me that will be interviewing with the actually company.  Oh, I was so excited when I left, I started figuring out who can help me with my kids, how much I can pay them, what their schedule will be etc.  So I head to the company for the final interview.   I arrive and one story was the partners  weren’t aware of me coming and they wouldn’t be in for another couple of hours.  I said no problem,  they can call me to reschedule.  I contacted the headhunter and left a message.  She calls me and tells me they had a family emergency.  Hum, ok the stories don’t match but whatever.  She asked me to go back in 2 hours.  So I wait around and do and I had to once again reschedule appointments so I can fit this in as it is a high priority now.  Isn’t that how we determine what is our priority… based on what we want to make time for!  So  I am still making plans and claiming this position as I knew it was mine.   In my industry this salary is higher than anyone else.  So I am so excited and know I am going to get it.  I head back to the appointment and met with one of the partners.  I knew for sure this was a slam dunk, interview is going well. Then the other partner came in, young, hot shot, and I said oh there it went. I didn’t care for some of his answers but I continued to smile and do my best.  I was feeling a little down as I wasn’t as confident that it was mine after meeting with him.  So they said they needed someone right away and I was planning on them making a decision really fast. So no call Tuesday so by Tuesday afternoon, I started praying and seeking what God wanted for me.  I didn’t do it before the interview since I knew I would get it, I didn’t need to call on God, I had this.  Sound familiar?  So by Wednesday morning, I wake up and I am discouraged since all the answered pointed to this isn’t a job for you to take.  Why not, it was perfect for so many answers I needed.   I really wanted to continue to push that door from closing because I wanted it.  Lord, please tell me why this isn’t for me…. No answer but I had peace in my heart about it and let it go.  Not in my head as I still was boggled as to why? No sooner, Thursday morning my phone starts going crazy.  It’s this headhunter calling me.  I figured oh, she wanted to offer me another position and so I was in no hurry to call her back.  Then she stared emailing me, etc.  So we played phone tag for a couple hours and then guess what… she says they really liked you and want to hire you.  I was like oh wow, that’s great!  However, I have to decline.  She went on with why?  I said I am sorry I accepted another position even with lower pay.  She was very upset that I wouldn’t take it.  She reminded me that this position is better than anything out there right now and I am crazy not to accept it.  I said yes I know, however I am declining. Thank you for your time.  So that didn’t stop her, she continued to call and email me to contact her. She said they don’t want anyone else, they have bonuses on top of the salary and she just found out. I said wow, if you would have called me yesterday, I was in a place to say yes, but today the answer is still no.  Isn’t that true, I would have accepted it on Tuesday before I seeked God cuz I was doing it on my own… I didn’t need any help with this door… but no, I get a call AFTER I seeked God’s answer.  Humm!    She continued to ask me what is keeping me from taking it, I said I already committed to someone else and I have to keep my word.    She continued to point out how this one is better than the one I accepted.  She said she would give me til the next morning before she made the call of my denial for me to reconsider one more time. I said ok.  I am still thinking about it, but in my heart I knew this was a NO.  So by morning she is blowing up my phone for an answer. Once again I declined.    I knew that job in my mind would solve so many issues for me, however God didn’t have the same plan. Of course we don’t know what he is going to bring our way next.  Right?  So I let that door close, there was no reason to continue to hold it up and missing my next blessing.   My next blessing you ask?  … well it came within days of that door closing!

Looking back throughout circumstances that have come your way, running into closed doors is really hurtful and doesn’t make any sense.  This verse Psalm 43:10 answered so much for me, but he said be still and know I am God.  When I first got saved, I heard the Rev. 3:20 I stand at the door knocking, if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will eat and he with me.   I can remember standing at the alter feeling my heart pumping fast, head has no thoughts, just tears running down my face. I had no vision to see anything, I was just standing there sobbing with my heart racing.  Do you remember having a similar feeling when you first encountered that experience with God?  God is standing there knocking at our heart and we have the choice to except him or not.  Do you remember the feeling when you excepted him, the peace that came over you no matter what circustances surround you in your life?  The hope, peace and joy you had at that very moment, nothing else mattered.  I can speak for me, I felt like I was in a whole different place, I felt like I was walking on a cloud. How many times do we forget that same hope, peace and joy that is on the inside and we don’t keep that freshness alive.    Or did you decide not to accept God and you lack joy, peace and happiness and have been battling with it every day since.   You wish you don’t have to carry lifes burdens on your back being depressed, wounded, sick ?  Don’t feel you are worth God’s  love and mercy?  How many times do you have friends that say, If this… then I it would make me happy?  If he or she would just…. Then we will be ok?  Those things happen and guess what, there is still no peace, joy or happiness.  Sometimes these closed doors or the doors you see and feel closing on you seem devastating, yet  they are really helping you have a better life, be a better person,  and be a testimony for you to share.

Having conversations with friends and you can say, I remember going thru that and you can testify what God has done for you and give them comfort that it will be ok.  If that door didn’t close for you, you wouldn’t have this opportunity to help your friend.   God has much more in store for you. Once you have come to accept the closed door, now God can open the right one for you.   Have you ever looked back at those closed doors and realized how they actually helped you and elevated you to a better place?    I can talk about a boyfriend I just let him walk all over me, because I loved him.  Deep down in my stomach I knew he wasn’t good for me, however I was willing to live with that pain in my stomach than to emotionally close that door as that seemed to painful.  Maybe that’s someone on the line today….  Do you have a girlfriend that has turned her back on you?  Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend you know is treating you bad and you deserve better.  I encourage you not to live with that anymore and know once the tears dry and the heart is healed, you too will be blessed with something better.  You will look back in a year and say God, thank you… what took you so long.. right?  It actually was you holding up your blessing.

Talking about doors, the other day I was watching Steve Harvey and for any of you that don’t know he is now hosting TBN and left his secular comedy industry to serve God.  He had an awesome analogy I would love to share.  Picture with me you in heaven walking down a hall with Peter , going to see God.  You see all these doors with names on it.  You ask Peter, Peter why do all these doors have names on it?  Peter said, oh don’t worry about that, keep on walking.  They continue to walk down the hall and you see your name on the door and you stop! Do you see the door you asked Peter, it has my name on it?  He said, yes but don’t’ worry about it keep going. You said no, I have to know what’s inside.  You open the door, picture a warehouse full of boxes on shelves.  Do you see it, it’s a big warehouse?  You ask Peter, what are all these boxes… Peter replied… these are all your blessings.  You say well why are they in here…. Peter said well that row of boxes is when you were on pitty me street, so God’s blessing couldn’t get delivered to you.. so it was returned… that row is when you were on faithless street so it couldn’t be delivered and it was returned… that row is when you were on doubtful street so those blessings were returned.   If we aren’t standing on God’s word, believing, trusting and being all he has made us to be every minute, we are missing our blessings.   Don’t let closed doors bring you down, welcome them as it means that blessing is being delivered to you.. don’t let you next blessing go to the warehouse. 

I pray this word has been a blessing to you.  Keep your  head held high as we are representing our heavenly father in all that we do!

Happy Mother's Day

Wow, Mother’s day can bring such joy and honor.  Being a mother is a self-less act in which God has put in our genes.  Let’s be honest, some of us didn’t’ plan to have children, couldn’t have children or never thought of having a child and here you are being honored on Mother’s day. I recall when I was younger watching moms with the van, getting the stroller out and taking their baby in the store.  I thought wow what work, I wouldn’t want to do all that….  Now I look at those vans and smile, thinking what an honor it is to have had the experience to be a mom.    Some people are climbing the corporate ladder when others are stay at home moms and wouldn’t trade a day of their lives for their children. I often laugh as to why we didn’t get an instruction booklet warning you about the late nights, crying’s, feedings, burping’s, diaper smells , car seats , strollers, toys, tears, heartache and patience we would need to endure this rewarding experience?  With the tiny bit I listed, would anyone want to be a Mother?  When I compare being a mother with God not being able to show us his plan for us, I believe it’s along the same lines… we wouldn’t do it!  When birth is given, the miracle of a baby throws out any idea of what’s yet to come…. Doesn’t that sound like God.. can’t unfold everything at one time?

Do you remember in kindergarten, elementary school when we would make all the lovely Mother’s Day arts and craft hearts, hand prints or handmade gifts that made our moms hearts melt?  I picked my kids up on Friday after school and here they come running to the car with a Mother’s Day gift in their hand. They are so proud to hand it to me… I say awh thank you.. you know Mother’s day is Sunday… my littlest one said, I can’t wait that long!  Can you please read it now…  But mom, please don t’ cry.  I would get to Happy Mother’s day, the eyes would start to water,  I get all chocked up and nothing was more important than that hallmark moment.   I love to replay it in my head, as if Mother’s Day was every day.  Why isn’t Mother’s day every day to us?  I would encourage you to replace those tough, tired moments as a mom with those hallmark moments to keep the hussle and bussle down and keep our joy and smiles up.

I was sitting in the tub the other night and this scripture hit me…

John 15:9-17

New King James Version (NKJV)

Love and Joy Perfected

⁹ “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

The joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full!  Choose me to bear fruit… that is just so awesome to know that we are to be joyful from the fruit we bear and love our children as God loves us.  Hey I know many times, our kids do something we never thought “our kid would do” to make the hair stand up on our head… then there are those hallmark moments that let you forget all that heartache. 

Why do we wait until one special day to honor our mothers and as mothers to honor ourselves. What have you done lately for yourself? I know some people have date night once a month or a day to sleep in for ourselves, but we as moms do we truly honor the task God has given us.  God will never give us more than we can bear, but are we being all we can be as a mom.  How are we honoring ourselves and God in our walk, attitude and appearance? Are we stressed out, bitter in attitude, wearing ungodly clothes.  In the military, solider’s have to appear crisp and clean at all times… we as moms need to wear the badge and stripes of Godly motherhood.    This requires us as moms to put on our “Sunday best” for everyday as we earned those stripes.

Is your mom, your super mom, wonder woman or the one who has your back?  Is she someone you look up to even though she makes you mad? Do you admire how she can work, take care of you, listen to you, pray for you and give you guidance?  Be real, I know the guidance part you might not like the “no’s you get” but thinking back wasn’t it the best thing for you?    For me, I can definitely look back and say wow you are a super mom. 

I want to ask you, did you do anything for your mom today? Did you call her, give her a card or any kind gesture to know she is important to you. I know there were times t as kids we weren’t happy to get or make something for our moms.  Are we still being grounded and we should be nice?  I know my son is mad at me over his decision to have missing assignments.  He asked if he could go somewhere last week and I said sure if those assignments are completed.  He started pouting and carrying on…. So of course today I can see him holding back his regular happiness in saying happy Mother’s day.   Is that you today?  Are you on bad terms with your mom? Don’t let another day go by without telling her you love her.  Do you side with your friends when they are mad at their mom?  We need to encourage our friends to call, love and show that appreciation as tomorrow isn’t promised… I heard one minister say, mothers are the next gateway to God. For all those times you needed discipline, that ear while you cried that your boyfriend broke up with you, your mom was strong while helping you… yet crying behind closed doors.   if you ever thought and missed your mom… call her as she loves you!  Don’t let this opportunity go by without showering you mom with love and joy this Mother’s day!

I want to wish all a very blessed Mother’s Day ! 

How many holes do you have?

When we are born after checking our vitals, we are wrapped up as a bundle of joy in a blanket and given to our parents to hold us. After our parents admire us in amazement, we get a diaper, and a t-shirt to cover us up and keep us warm.  Our parents continue to care for us by picking us up and putting us down with love.  By the time we hit our toddler years, we are trying to stumble around and learn how to walk, learn to fall and pull ourselves up.  Those little falls turn into little tears in our pants.  Have you ever looked at in our toddler years we are being taught by our parents the “no” word and of course we buck back to trying to test that boundary. That is the beginning of our learning curve, it seems so hard at that age and then we become children.  We are now playing on the play structures, running all around the playground and falling on the cement, skinning our knee thru the pants and we look down and see its bleeding.  We start crying to be picked up and have our ouchy tended to by our mommy or daddy.  Parents usually feel bad that it happened, however all the drama they are going thru really isn’t all that, we say it’s going to be all better, it will hurt for a few minutes we  kiss it and off they go to run to play.  That validation it’s going to be okay and reaching out knowing someone will give you the love you need to get thru it is a critical stage in life.  Unfortunately many of the kids today don’t get that….  As we continue to grow into young kids, we get better balance, less awkwardness and play even harder.   Those little tears in the pants have now become little holes. They are getting bigger and so are the skinned knees when we fall.  Now as a teenager, we are stronger, bigger and more daring than ever.   As teens we are playing sports, riding skateboards, riding bikes and doing fancy tricks and the falls we take now are really big.    Those little tears become little holes in the pants and now as teens they have become big rips and huge holes.  As kids do, they continue to make those holes bigger and the tears they have tear more and by the time they get home, we have to throw the pants away.  I ask my kids what happened, they say oh I don’t know, I was playing and I fell and it was there. Then my other kid would say, yeah but then you were pulling at it and making it worse.  Does any of this sound familiar?    If we look at these tears and holes as growing pains, what would your t-shirt look like?  So go with me and picture a white t-shirt full of little holes from being a toddler… now look at that same shirt with the kids making each of those holes even bigger since we are now pre-teen. Okay so now that we are late teens, early adults is there much of that shirt left to hold it together?  Imagine this shirt to represent each hole to be our hurts, backbiting, jealousy, lying, stealing and pains we went thru growing up.   The jealousy we had in elementary school isn’t anything compared to the jealousy in high school right.  So that hole is so much bigger now then it was. That hurt is so much more painful than it was when I was younger.  Funny, it’s all the same; we are grown up more so we can emotionally understand the hurt more.   We share it with more of our friends, get down on ourselves for what happened, and stay in I can’t believe it mood for a few days.  Of course our parents would say, I’ve been there and this too shall pass, right? And that didn’t help soothe the pain at all.  I don’t know about you, but it’s at that time, when my friends didn’t answer the phone, they were busy and couldn’t come over and I sure didn’t want to talk to my parents about what’s going on.  I felt all alone and no one is there to hear me.  I’m sure that’s not you, but for me I was searching for some answers to help me thru my situation.  I learned this at a young age… It’s not our circumstance that’s the challenge, but how we react to the circumstance that brings us thru.  I don’t know about you, but if I did have this shirt for every heartache and pain I had, I would need a California king size blanket and then some.  When you have no faith, it’s like a black Friday.  There is no way out of the chaos.  Trying to come out of those situations would be tough… maybe cause a little bit of withdrawal, depression, anger, crying but all of this could be much easier, with Jesus on your side. He will carry your burden, not you.  When my kids were growing up, I would call them my little eagles.  My daughter finally said mom why do you call us that. I said did you know that God made the eagle and it’s the only bird that will attack a storm head on and rise above it.  I would hate to call you a chicken and all you do is just stay on the ground and run around in a chicken coop. God made us to rise above each and every storm, and continue to fly.  An eagle is a remarkable bird, do you know from high up in the air he will find his prey, and go after that only one. If it moves, it doesn’t lose sight of which one it is… the eagle never changes its mind. If it’s a fish and the fish swims into a swarm of fish, the eagle still knows which one is his target and that’s the one he will fly down and scoop up.   Don’t you want to be an eagle thru your circumstance?

Isaiah 40:31

New International Version (NIV)

³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

 I think it’s awesome to hear I can hope in the Lord and he will renew my strength. Then I will soar on wings like eagles.  I will run not grow weary and I will walk and not be faint. If you are feeling any of those thru your situation, I encourage you to grow your relationship with Jesus.  Continue to call on him, pray and he will answer you.  Your friends might not be available, but Jesus is always there to hear you. In fact if you share your circumstance with Jesus first, you won’t need all 5 of your friend’s opinions anymore.  I know as we get older, we don’t want to hear our parent’s lectures, so turn your ears to Jesus and everything else will make more sense.  We need a close relationship with Jesus to close up all those holes we have in our t-shirts.  We need to forgive those people for the backbiting to close that hole, forgive the one who stole from you, the boyfriend or girlfriend who betrayed you and make that hole in your t-shirt much larger over your heart.  I’m sure you could tell me what each hole is and who did it.  That’s why we need to learn to live like Jesus.  When I have a situation going on, I stop and think what would Jesus do?  If you can start thinking that instead of who can I call and tell, great godly growth will come out of you.

The Devils Worse Nightmare!

When I was growing up, I hit my teenage years and of course I knew everything. My mom or dad couldn't tell me what to do.  I already knew how to do it. I would lie about this or that to hang out with my friends because my parents didn't think they were good for me.  What's wrong with them, they are good people, right? I had all kinds of super powers that made me know more than my parents.  I would say nah my parents won't know, they are never home, they didnt' pay any attention to me.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?  Maybe that wasn't you, but that's still the biggest complaint I hear from parents today that my teen thinks they know everything.  So as a parent now, my biggest nightmare is my kids getting older and growing up with all kinds of crazy things out there they don't understand.  Do we parents think to much, yeah maybe! Worry, yeah probably so.. but what do we know about educating our kids to understand!  Well that's hard to do when they know everything right? Does any of this sound familiar as to how we take God's authority and put it to use?  Do we know to much and don't study his word?  Do we rely on our own understanding to solve our problems, but comforts God's word to help our friends?  Do you do any occasional prayer and say God doesn't answer? God hasn't helped me out of this circumstance, and you aren't standing on faith.  I think in a lot of ways we as Chrisitians know to much to humble ourselves to God and use the authority God has given us. Is this really any different thatn us being a teenager?

Judges 7: 5 So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unot Gideon, everyone that lappath of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

Judges 7.6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

Here Gideon is obeying God and told him to bring the men down to the water.  The ones who bowed on their knees were on the ones God wanted to use.  So his army went from 10,000 to 300.  Why these ones I wondered?  If  you can bow down in order to drink the water you would need to scoop it into your hands right? In order to do that, you would have to put everything down in your hands to kneel down and scoop the water.  You would have to repy on what you have inside not the weapons you have in your hands to use.  To go deepr than that, if the hands are empty and scooped the water, the hands are clean now.  God wants to use clean hands it represents a level of holiness when you have to go up against the devil.  So if God spoke to you and told you to drop everything and come to me and drink out of the water, how many of us would kneel down and scoop it?  This mean you would obey God without hesitation or excuses.  He took this simple way of sorting the right kind of people he needed to fight this battle.  This is so fascinating to me.

In Zechariah 4:6 Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty.

Gideon realized there were a small number of people left for the battle and the number of people were never his strength in the first place, God was his strength.  The devil would never see Gideon's weakness, he would only see his magnificant power.

God tells Gideon "I want you to go and to hear what's going on in the enemy camp" so Gideon and his servant did.  Gideon was told to hide behind a bush and eavesdrop and find out what they were saying about him.  You know there is power in knowledge, and now Gideon has it. Gideon has now seen himself thru the enemy's eye and his confidence is much stronger.  With his easvesdrop he found out about the nightmare. One of the enemy soliders had a nightmare about the invasion.  The barley cake in the nightmare represented Gideon's army and the Word of God.  You know the devil's worse nightmare is the Word of God. Look at Gideon, a person who has nothing to start with no money, no powers... nothing... can demolish the enemy's stronghold with a single word from God!

Think about this.... the devils worst nightmare is that you and I are going to wake up and recognize our authority in Christ instead of muttering.. I can't do this anymore, I am not qualified, I have so much against me. No in Proverbs 23;7 it says:  For as he thinketh in  his heart, so is he.  What are you saying about your future and who are you?  These words are not using your authority in God.

We need to know that our enemies are saying and speak God's word to it.  Is this any different than when I was a teenager?  My parents would go thru my stuff to find out what I was up to.  I would have nightmares that my parents would find this or that.  Why?  My parents knew I was hanging out in a camp that wasn't good for me.  We need to speak God's word into their life as it says in Luke 23:24 Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

The devils nightmare is for us to wake up and know and use our authority within us.  We can speak life or death by the power of our tongue. The choice is ours, if you speak death and devil hears and he has the upper hand.  You know that old saying if I knew now what I knew then things would be different... we do now and we can speak that against the devil.  Don't give up, what is Gideon did?  We have the authority to take hold of any stronghold and have victory!  This is a new year and time to ask God to show you who you really are and what you are capable of.  Gideon led 300 men against 250,000 with a trumpet and breakable pitchers that held a candle of fire. When Gideon said break the jars and the torches flared up, the enemy's camp panic'd and killed everything including each other. How awesome is that?  Have you thought about the breaking of the jars is willingness to be broken so that God's light can shine forth.  God's dreams for your life can be fulfilled, but you need to let the jars break to be set free.  This is a new year, a year of destiny and lets break the jars, speak life into our family lives and let the devil have more nightmares about you.