Tag Archives: Jesus

May 9, 2014 · 7:45 AM

The Mom Who Wouldn’t Quit

It’s Free Friday! Today is the day you let go of the things in your life that keep you down or hold you back from all God has for you. To celebrate, I’m giving away an autographed copy of “What Happens When Women Say Yes To God” by Lysa TerKeurst. Keep reading to find out how to enter.

I’ve always heard that if your mom is praying for you, you might as well stop running because God is going to answer her prayer. There us a lot of power and passion in a mother’s prayer. I believe it’s because God puts something special in them. They have the power to love their children unconditionally. When a dad is ready to give up, a mom keeps believing against all hope and prays even more fervently. There is power in a mom’s prayer.

There is a mom in Matthew 15:22-28 who approached Jesus for her child. We don’t know her name, but we know about her persistence. She had a daughter who was being tormented by a demon. It was unbearable for her to watch her daughter be miserable and to be powerless against it. When she heard that Jesus was coming through her area, she made it her mission to get His attention and to get Him to heal her daughter no matter what. She knew that Jesus had the power to make her daughter whole.

With a loud voice, she began to make a scene trying to get Jesus’ attention. The Amplified Bible says it was a loud, troublesomely urgent cry. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David,” she cried out. Jesus could hear her, but He ignored her. He kept walking and gave her no reply to her shouts. She then began to pester the disciples. She begged them to get Him to touch her daughter. If she couldn’t get The Lord’s attention, she would find those who could and get them to plead with Him on her behalf.

When the disciples got tired of being bothered by her, they said to Jesus, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.” Jesus refused again. He said He had His hands full helping the lost sheep of Israel. When the woman saw that Jesus wouldn’t grant her request even though the disciples asked Him to, she marched right up to Him, dropped to her knees and begged, “Master, help me.” You can hear the desperation in her voice as she wanted nothing more than help for her daughter.

Jesus then said one of the most harsh things He ever said. He looked at her and said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to the dogs.” Jesus had not only ignored her and refused to answer her, now He was insulting her. Instead of walking away or throwing an insult back, she quickly replied, “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.” Verse 28 says, “Jesus gave in. ‘Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get.’ Right then her daughter became well.”

If you feel like God has ignored your prayer, keep praying and get others involved. If God is refusing your request, go straight into the a Throne Room and make your request known. If God is still refusing, don’t quit praying. If you feel insulted because you have prayed so long and so hard, don’t stop. Your answer could be just around the corner. God will test our faith to make sure it’s what we really want. He will answer when our faith is something else. Mom, you have a gift for never giving up when it comes to your children. Keep going to The Lord in prayer until He gives in and grants your request. There’s something about a praying mom that touches the heart of God.

If you would like to win an autographed copy of “What Happens When Women Say Yes To God” by Lysa TerKeurst, all you have to do is go to my Facebook page here and “like” it. I will randomly pick one person tomorrow (May 10, 2014) who has liked my page. If you have already liked my page and enjoy reading these daily devotionals, you are already entered. Please invite your friends to like my page so they can receive encouragement from God’s Word too

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May 8, 2014 · 7:55 AM

The Mom Who Was MVP

This week Kevin Durant, of the NBA’s Oklahoma Thunder, won the league MVP. In his 25 minute speech, he thanked coaches and other players by name and told how they has helped him. The room was captivated. Then, through tears, he turned to his mom and thanked her. He told how she was a single mom raising two boys. He told how they had to move from apartment to apartment sometimes with no furniture or beds. He told how she did what it took to make ends meet and even kept him off the streets. He then looked at her, with tears in his eyes, and said, “You’re the real MVP.”

I don’t know why, but listening to his speech reminded me of the widow woman in I Kings 17 that Elijah approached. He had been camping out by a brook and ravens had been bringing him food. Because of the drought, the brook dried up. God told him to go to a nearby town and that a widow would feed him. As he traveled he became both thirsty and hungry. He had worked up quite an appetite by the time he arrived at the town. As he walked up to the city gate, he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called out to her to bring him a drink. As she turned to get the water jug, he added, “And bring me some bread too.”

The motherly instinct kicked in now. She didn’t mind getting this stranger water. There was plenty of it, but the bread was a different story. She let him know that she barely had enough for one meal. She was going to feed it to her son and then they were going to die of starvation. Her son must have been pretty young. He wasn’t out gathering sticks for her. She was gathering the sticks, she was going to build the fire, she was going to cook and she was going to share it with him. I’m sure she had played out their death a thousand times. This last bit of bread represented hope. It represented one more day of life and now this stranger was asking for it.

Being the good mom she was, she explained why she couldn’t give up their last meal. But Elijah spoke to her and gave her a promise from God. He told her not to be afraid and that God would cause there to be flour and oil in her jars until the rains came and crops were produced. She had to make a choice. Was this man really from God? Were his words really what God said? What if I give our last meal to him and God doesn’t come through? I’m sure there were lots of doubts and scenarios going through her mind. In the end, she went for the long term solution versus the short term gain. She gave up everything for her son in order to trust God to help them live.

So many moms out there are faced with life and death decisions like this widow. They choose not to eat so their kids can. They don’t know where the next meal will come from. They work, but it seems like it’s not enough. The widow showed that if we continue to work, but also do all that God asks, He will provide. He will make a way where there seems to be no way. I know several people who have been to this desperate point. They trusted God and miraculously groceries showed up on their door step, someone paid for their groceries at the store, or money came in from seemingly no where. Moms who trust God when there seems to be no way are the real MVP’s of this life.

Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread. (Psalms 37:25 NLT)

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May 7, 2014 · 7:48 AM

The Mom Who Believed

Have you ever told a true story to someone who didn’t believe you? That what happened to Gabriel. Zachariah was carrying out his priestly duties working his assigned shift at the Temple. He was chosen by lot to be the one who entered the sanctuary to burn incense. While he was in there alone, Gabriel appeared next to the smoke. He told Zachariah that the prayers for a child that he and Elizabeth had prayed were heard by God and that they would have a son named John. After Gabriel spoke prophetically about John, Zachariah said, “Do you expect me to believe this? I am an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

After hearing that, Gabriel made Zachariah mute until the child was born. When he returned home, I’m sure he motioned to Elizabeth about why he couldn’t speak. It was clear later, that they had communicated about this. Elizabeth believed the message from God. She had long prayed for a child and now God was answering her prayers. Even though she felt like she was beyond child bearing years, she had the faith to keep praying for a child. God honored her faith and answered when she could only believe it was Him. He proved to her that nothing is impossible to Him and it’s never too late to answer a prayer.

Gabriel also met with Mary about Jesus’ birth. While talking to her, he told her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Mary rushed to see Elizabeth. When she entered the house, the baby and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy Spirit according to Luke 1:41. Elizabeth then prophesied over Mary. One of the things she said is good for each of us to hear. In verse 45 she said, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from The Lord.” God speaks to many of us about what He wants to do in our lives. As we get older, and time goes by, we quit believing what a God spoke to us.

Elizabeth reminds us that when God speaks a promise, we are blessed to keep believing it no matter how much time goes by. We choose to believe that it’s too late for God to move, act or fulfill His promise or we choose to believe that nothing is impossible. Elizabeth chose to keep praying even though the mirror told her she was too old. She kept believing even though history told her she was beyond the time for pregnancy. She kept trusting God’s promise instead of the reports she got from the doctors. She reminds us that those who can believe through all of that are blessed.

When her son was born, the people wanted to name him after his father as the tradition was. She rejected what her neighbors and community thought she should do and insisted on doing what the angel told her husband. The neighbors then went to Zachariah since she wouldn’t budge. Surely he wanted the honor of having his child named after him. When they asked him, he wrote on a tablet, “His name is John.” Immediately he could speak. The first words out of his mouth were blessings, praise and thanksgiving to God. He didn’t praise God because his tongue was loosed. He blessed God because He had answered his prayer.

Today, let your tongue loose to praise God even before you get your answer. Trust Him to be faithful to His promise to you. He has not forgotten what He said He would do. He will fulfill it in His time so that you will know that it was all God and no one else’s doing. God doesn’t care whys the doctors have said. He doesn’t base His promise on what family history says. He doesn’t even care what everyone else says. He cares about you and the promise He made. He cares that you keep believing in the hard times, through the dark nights and when all else fails. His word will not return void. He will do what He said He would if you believe.

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May 6, 2014 · 8:00 AM

The Mom Who Risked It All

Today, I want to take a closer look at the mother of Moses. The Bible doesn’t say a whole lot about her, but her actions speak volumes. We know that she and her husband were Levites which was the priestly lineage of Israel. Moses, being born to them would be a priest. He would serve in the role unlike any other. His work was not only in the sanctuary, but also he served outside of it as a leader of the people. He led them out of physical bondage as well as spiritual bondage.

I wonder what it was about him that his mother saw. The scripture says in Exodus 2 that when he was born, “she saw that he was a special baby.” My hope is that most mom’s would look at their baby’s and see something special about them. For so e reason, the Bible calls out that there was something different about him. There was something worth risking their lives for. The Pharaoh had given the order that every newborn, Hebrew boy should be tossed into the Nile river. Anyone who defied the Pharaoh would surely be punished.

Another thing Moses’ mom did was to keep him hidden for three months. She did what she could to protect her baby. She was somehow able to keep him a secret from everyone. Every mom has a God-given instinct to protect their children. Mom’s do what they can to protect their own. It’s a special gift that shouldn’t be over looked. Mom’s are the protectors. When a child is scared, they call out for mom. When a child is hurt, they cry out for mom. Moses’ mom was just like any other mom out there, she wanted to be her child’s protector.

When she could no longer keep it quiet that she had a little boy, she had to make a tough decision. She had to let go of her prize possession in order to save him. She knew when it was time to let go. She built a floating basket big enough for her 3 month old, laid him in it and put it in the Nile. She knew her daughter was small enough to hide in the reeds, so she sent her to follow the baby until he was safe. She knew that Pharaoh lived just down stream from them and if he saw or heard the baby, he would kill him.

It just so happened that Pharaoh’s daughter was going to take a bath in the river at the same time Moses was floating by. She didn’t have her father’s heart. She had a mother’s heart that broke when she heard the baby crying and saw him. She must have seen what his birth mother saw and she decided to adopt him. When the sister saw he would be safe with her, she approached the princess. She asked if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her. When she brought back Moses’ mom, the princess agreed to pay her to nurse and raise the boy until he was weaned.

God does so e mysterious things, especially for mom’s. I believe they hold a special place in His heart. Stories like this one rarely mention the father. Some of the greatest leaders of the Bible were heavily influenced by their mom. In this case, Moses had the influence of his birth mom who instilled his heritage in him. He also had his adoptive mother who kept him save until the time came for him to step into that priestly role. The Israelites needed a leader. They needed someone to rescue them from slavery and they found that in Moses. History changed not just because of Moses, but also because his mom risked everything for his survival.

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May 5, 2014 · 8:01 AM

The Mom Who Was Granted Grace

I want go focus on mothers in the Bible this week. Today, Hannah comes to mind. She was the mother of Samuel. Her husband had another wife named Peninnah. She had blessed her husband with children, but Hannah had not. She struggled with infertility. I’m sure it bothered her all the time, but each year when they would travel to Shiloh to worship God, it would become a major issue. Her husband would give a portion of the sacrifice to Peninnah and to each of her children. To Hannah, he only gave one portion. Peninnah would taunt her and make fun of her for not having children.

I’m sure that Hannah struggled daily with not being able to have children. The voice in her head constantly tormented her making her feel like she was somehow less of a person because she couldn’t have kids. She must have felt like God was punishing her or that there was something wrong with her. Every time she saw a mother with their children, it was like a knife in a wound reminding her that she was barren. Having the other wife taunt her and make fun of her was just salt in the wound.

Her husband would say things like, “Aren’t I worth more to you than ten sons?” Men really don’t understand what a woman goes through. We aren’t wired the way a woman is. Instead of doing something consoling, we say something stupid. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her husband, she wanted fulfillment that only a child could bring. Her husband’ swords weren’t meant to hurt, but spoken out of ignorance, they did more harm than good. She would have preferred he prayed for her there while we sacrificed.

Since he didn’t, she did. She went into the sanctuary to pray. She began to weep as years of pain, suffering and mental anguish released. When she ran out of tears, her body dry heaved as she tried to pray. The words wouldn’t come out. Her mouth was moving, but the prayer was coming from her heart. Eli, the priest, saw her at the alter. He assumed she was drunk by her behavior. He called out to her, “Must you come here drunk?” Sobbing she replied, “I haven’t been drinking. But I am very discouraged and I was pouring my heart out to The Lord.” He said, “In that case, go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”

She went away happy and began to eat again. She believed the word from Eli. She conceived and gave birth to a son. When he was old enough to be weaned, she took him back to Eli and gave him to The Lord. She left him there as an offering for God answering her prayer. She gave back the thing she wanted most. When I looked up the name Hannah, it meant “grace”. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines grace as “an unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration.” God gave Hannah grace just like he gives it to us. When Samuel was born, Hannah became a new person. She was free of the thing that haunted her. God is still in the business of answering our deepest desires and granting us grace when no one else understands.

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May 2, 2014 · 7:50 AM

Robbed At Gunpoint

It’s Free Friday! Today is the day you let go of the things in your life that keep you down or hold you back from all God has for you. To celebrate, I’m giving away a copy of “Hurt Healer: reaching out to a broken world” by Tony Nolan. Keep reading to find out how to enter.

I was driving out in the middle of nowhere when I came to a four way stop intersection. I looked to my left for oncoming traffic and then to my right. When I looked right, there was a man standing there with a gun up to the window. He demanded my car. My first thought was to punch it. He must have seen the look in my eyes. He said, “If you hit the gas, I’ll shoot. Put it in park and get out.” What could I do? I got out. He walked around the car and hit me in face with his gun. He then punched me in the stomach and when I bent over, he kneed me in the face. I don’t remember much after that.

I woke up in the middle of the road at this intersection not knowing really where I was. I was covered in blood and hurt all over. I could barely move. I reached for my phone, but it was gone. There was no one for miles. I passed out again from the pain. I woke up to the sound of a car coming. I could hear the tires hum against the pavement. As he slowed down, he moved out of the lane I was laying in. Finally, I had hope as he pulled up next to me. He sat up in his car to look out his passenger side window and see me. It took everything in me to say, “Help,” but it came out as a whisper.

He turned his head back to the road ahead of him and started driving off. I remember seeing a fish on the back of his car and a bumper sticker that said, “God is my co-pilot”. I tried to say, “I’m a Christian too,” but he was gone and I didn’t have the strength. I laid my head back down and waited. My mind began to wonder what would happen if a wild animal came up to me. How would I defend myself? As my mind ran with all these scenarios, I heard another car coming. I began to hope again and tried to turn on my side. It hurt so badly, but I was able to do it.

This man was wearing a suit and was in a nice car. He was in the lane next to me because I was still in the road. I tried to wave to get his attention, but he didn’t even look my way. He was willing to go around me, but not look at me. I began to cry as he drove off. Every time my body moved as I tried to catch my breath, it hurt even more. I’m not sure if I was crying from the pain, the disappointment or the fear of dying there on the road. The sun was going down and so were my dreams of being rescued. I knew if it got dark, the chances of someone seeing me before they hit me were minimal. I prepared for the worst.

As it got dark, I could hear music far off. As it got closer, I could tell it was heavy metal. It was loud and over powered the sound of the car’s engine. As it got closer, I just knew this guy was going to hit me. I saw the headlights coming right for me and his hands beating the steering wheel. I thought, “This is it. I’m going to get killed by a punk after all this.” At the last second he swerved and hit his brakes. The car came to a screeching halt. He jumped out and ran over to me. “Are you ok, dude?” I could barely talk. He picked me up, put me in his car and drove me to a local doctor’s house.

The doctor took care of me, and nursed me back to health over a few weeks. When I was finally able to leave, I asked what did I owe him. He politely said, “Nothing. The guy that brought you in gave me his credit card and told me to charge it all to him.” I protested, but he wouldn’t let me pay. I asked about overages too. He said the guy told me that when he came back through here, he’d pay anything else that the card didn’t cover. I was shocked. Of all the people I thought should help me that day, it was the one I least expected.

Hopefully, by now you recognize my story as the parable of the Good Samaritan told through the eyes of the victim. How many hurting people do we drive by each day? They may not be physically beat up and laying in the road, but they are mentally and spiritually beat up and laying in our path. They call to us for help, but we look away or worse, see them and then ignore them. This world is full of broken people who need a neighbor, who need someone to show mercy and need help getting back up. It’s our responsibility as Christians to be the ones who extend grace and mercy even to the ones we don’t like or have nothing in common with. That’s what being a Christian should be about. Today, let’s get free of religiosity and pride. Let’s get our hands dirty helping others.

If you would like to win “Hurt Healer” by Tony Nolan, all you have to do is go to my Facebook page here and “like” it. I will randomly pick one person tomorrow (May 3, 2014) who has liked my page. If you have already liked my page and enjoy reading these daily devotionals, you are already entered. Please invite your friends to like my page so they can receive encouragement from God’s Word too.

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May 1, 2014 · 7:43 AM

Living On “E”

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This morning I almost had to do the walk of shame. You know the one when your car runs out of gas and you have to walk to the gas station. As you can see from the photo, I was below the “E”. I was running late last night getting home from work. There was no time to stop because we had to be at church minutes after I got home. So I passed several gas stations knowing I needed gas because the other priorities were more important. You might be thinking that getting gas in the tank is the highest priority, and you’re right.

If it is the highest priority then why do we wait so long to fill up? The same thing happens to us spiritually. We run on empty until we are almost out and then we go fill up. I know when I fill up my car, there isn’t much to worry about. I can concentrate on the parts of driving that matter. When I’m on empty, I’m completely distracted looking at that indicator and wondering just how much further below the “E” it can go before I run out. I start looking for places to fill up. I start looking at every exit hoping to see a sign. I even start to panic a little.

The same thing happens in our spiritual life. When we are full, we don’t have a care in the world. We concentrate on living our lives the way a God wants, there aren’t many distractions and we put on cruise control with no worries. Sooner or later, we need a refill though. We miss a few Sundays at church, we get too busy to read our Bible and sleep through our prayer time. Things in our life start coming apart. We start looking for God to help us. We need Him to fill us up. People around us need our help, but we are too distracted on empty to notice.

It’s tough living like that, but so many times that how we live. We spend our lives running on empty. We rarely take the time to get full. We might get a quarter of a tank here and a quarter there, but we never get full. It boils down to priorities. You might be thinking that getting has in your spiritual tank is the highest priority, and you’re right. It is, but we don’t treat it as such. We let other things in our lives take over until we run out. When we reach that point where we can’t go on, we get stuck.

My father in law has a different approach to gas. He never let’s his tank get below half. If he gets to half, he says he’s on empty. We can all adopt this approach spiritually. Recognize when you’re no longer full and make it your priority to read God’s Word. Cut out something in your day so you can pray without distractions. Push back those plans so you can attend church. If you don’t make it a priority, everything else will take it’s place and you’ll end up distracted on “E”. We’ve already agreed that filling up is the highest priority. Look at your tank today. What do you need to do to fill up?

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April 30, 2014 · 7:48 AM

Prayer For Wisdom

Heavenly Father,

I want to start this prayer by saying, “Thank you.” There is so much in my life to be thankful for. You have blessed me in so many ways that I often over look some of them and treat them as ordinary. The truth is, nothing that comes from you is ordinary. Nothing you give me is common and I don’t want to treat it as such. When I sit down and think of all the ways you bless me daily, it gets overwhelming. I don’t deserve your goodness, but I’m thankful for it. I can’t repay you for the blessings. I can only offer a heart full of gratitude.

I confess that I don’t always appreciate the gifts you give. In fact, sometimes I even complain about people and things you bring into my life. I lose perspective on why you bring them into my life. I forget that you want me to make an impact on them by treating them with your love. I look at them as problems, distractions or annoyances. I don’t want to think about people or things in my life like that. I want to love them the way you love me. I want to treat them like you treat me, but I need your help to do that. Open my eyes to see beyond the distractions so I can see their needs. Give me wisdom in how I react and treat them.

You said in James 1:5 that if I lacked wisdom, I could ask you for it. Today, I’m asking for wisdom. I need divine wisdom for the situations I’m facing, for how to handle the relationships you’ve given me and with making decisions about my future. I can’t see very far into my future, but you already have it scripted out. My future is already history to you. I just want to make sure that I make the best decisions so I can have the future you have planned for me. I don’t want to make decisions based on knowledge. I want to make them from a position of wisdom and understanding.

I know that you have plans for me. I know that you want what is best for me. I understand the mindset of a father who wants the very best for his child. I know the love that pours out of me towards my own flesh and blood. If I feel this way about my own child, how much more do you feel for me? I can’t even grasp the depth of your love and desires for my life. I can’t comprehend the magnitude of what you want for me. Just like my child doesn’t understand the full concept of my love for him, I don’t understand the full concept of your love for me. I want to, but I don’t have the capacity.

Help me to live my life out of gratitude for all you’ve done. Show me the paths you want me to walk down in order to receive the future you’ve written out. Give me the courage to make the hard decisions that I have to make in order to be where you need me to be. Let your peace reign in me when the hard times come. Help me to make right decisions based on your wisdom instead of my emotions. Lead me along the paths of righteousness. Open my eyes to see people you’ve placed on my path to help along the way. Open my hands to give away what you ask me to give away. Open my mouth to speak wisdom into other’s lives and open my ears to hear your voice above all else.

I ask these things in Jesus’ name,

Amen.

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April 29, 2014 · 7:45 AM

Spring Up, O Well

I was reading in Ezekiel 47 about the angel that showed him a river flowing out of the Temple. He took Ezekiel outside and showed him where it came out of the wall. From there, the angel followed the river and measured off 1,750 feet and they walked across ankle deep water. They measured off another 1,750 feet and crossed again. This time the water was to their knees. They measured another 1,750 and crossed through water that was waist high. After that, they measured another 1,750 feet and couldn’t cross because it was so deep. Then in verse 6, the angel looks at him and asks, “Have you been watching?”

Up to that point, I had just been reading the chapter. When the angel asked that, I thought, “What am I missing? What was he to watch for? Is there significance in the depth of the river? Why did they measure 1,750 feet at a time?” My mind kept going trying to figure out what the angel was getting at because he doesn’t tell what he was supposed to see. I re-read it in several versions thinking I’d get something more. Then I was reminded that you and I are the Temple now. After that, my mind went back to when my mom was in the hospital just before she passed. I heard her singing, “I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me. It makes the lame to walk and the blind to see.”

Now, all of a sudden, I see what the angel was saying. Each of us as Christians have the River of Life in us. It comes from the Spring of Heaven and passes through our hearts. It isn’t intended to stay in us though. It was designed to flow out of us to others. The closer we keep it to ourselves, the more shallow it is. The further we let it go, the deeper it becomes and has a greater effect. Too many times we try to bottle up that river flowing out of us. We don’t want to offend. We don’t want to force our religion on others. We hold it in so we can fit in. The problem with all of that is that we withhold life from others when we do that.

In verse 7, with fresh eyes, Ezekiel looks at the riverbank and sees life. He said, “I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river.” The angel then said, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea. The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure… Life will flourish wherever this water flows.” For those who have yet to receive Christ, they are dead in their sins. The water that flows out of you can flow into the desert they are in. It can fill the valley that they are walking through. It can make the dead parts of their life come alive.

It all starts inside of you. Another part of that song that my mom loved so much said, “Spring up, O Well, within my soul!” The well within each of us needs to spring up so that we can bring life to a dying world. The well inside of us needs to spring up so we can water trees that will bear fruit. The well inside of us needs to spring up so that it flows more than just a few feet from us at ankle deep. The well needs to spring up so that we can bring healing to those who are hurting. How much water is your well producing? Have you been letting it through your walls or have you been trying to contain it? Let God’s Word and love flow through you today to others. His love is deep and wide. Don’t hold it in.

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April 28, 2014 · 7:52 AM

Don’t Be Intimidated

When we do what God wants us to do and live how God wants us to live, there will be others who oppose us. They will do everything in their power to prevent your growth, your rebuilding or your ministry. When you get opposition, you know that you are where God wants you. The enemy doesn’t try to thwart the plans of people who aren’t making an impact for the Kingdom. They aren’t a threat to his control. The ones who are taking light into the dark places, the ones who build themselves and others up, the ones who are on the front lines of ministry are the ones who face opposition.

Nehemiah was trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They were working hard when Tobiah found out about the work they were doing. The Bible says that he was displeased that someone was helping Israel. In Nehemiah 4, he began to mock those who were rebuilding the wall. He criticized their work and made fun of it. Verbal abuse is one of the greatest tactics of the enemy. He knows that if he can get in your head, he can slow you down or stop you from doing why’s God has called you to do. You can’t listen to the voice of the enemy that says you are going to fail. It will say that your work is worthless and meaningless. Nothing God calls you to do is meaningless.

The first thing Nehemiah did when Tobiah and his friends started mocking him was to pray. Prayer gets your mind back on God. Prayer causes God to move. It waters the seeds that you have sown and causes them to grow. It thwarts the plans of the enemy. It is powerful and needs to be your first response when the enemy comes in and starts playing mind games with you. Don’t get into a battle of words with him. Don’t get slowed down by arguing. Keep working on what God has called you to do and pray for God to help you.

When Tobiah learned that his mocking didn’t stop the work, he then threatened to harm the workers. Instead of panicking, they continued to work, but were prepared to fight. The had a sword in one hand and worked with the other. When that didn’t stop the work, Tobiah tried to trick Nehemiah into not working. He pretended to be his friend and ally. He made a false accusation to try to get Nehemiah to stop the work. In Nehemiah 6:9, Nehemiah said, “They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued with even greater determination.”

No matter who your Tobiah is or what tactics they are trying to use against you, don’t stop doing the work God has called you to. Don’t let their tactics get to you or keep you from doing what you are supposed to do. Do not be intimidated by others that the enemy would use to keep you from going where God has called you, from building what you know you are to build or from saying what God has placed on your heart. The enemy wants nothing more than for God’s people to be silenced and dormant. In the face of intimidation from the enemy, we should continue the work with greater determination. Pick up your sword and keep building, God is on your side.

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