A Talking Donkey

How many of us have had a talking donkey in our life. Or how many of us have ever heard a donkey talk? I think you will be surprised at the answer to that question. Let me explain.
One of the stories in the bible that amazes me of how people saw things in the early days is when the donkey talks to Balaam. Now I do not know about you, but if a donkey started talking to me, I would not argue with it, I would be too dumbfounded at the time. You need to read the story in Numbers. The part of the story I am referring to is when Balaam sets out on his donkey and an Angel of the Lord appears in front of the donkey with His sword drawn 3 times and 3 times the donkey turns away, and 3 times Balaam strikes his donkey. Then the Lord opens the donkey's mouth to speak.

Numbers 22 v 28-30.....Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?" And Balaam said to the donkey, "because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you!" So the donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden, ever since I became yours, to this day? Was I ever disposed to do this to you?" And he said, "No."

Okay, let's stop right there for a minute. Does that not just blow you away that this guy is carrying on a conversation with a donkey? When the donkey opened her mouth and questioned me about striking her, I think I would have fell out. Who but God could cause a donkey to speak? So, I think I might have fell down and repented then. I don't know, let's keep reading.

Numbers 22 v 31-34....Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. And the Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live. And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, "I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back."....

And there you have it. God knows our intentions when we try to be underhanded about something. When we try to go around the back door so to speak. You can not hide your intentions from God. And when you are doing something wrong and you know it, and that still small voice is trying to tell you don't do it, you had better listen. You see back then they did not have the Holy Spirit living within them to tell them right from wrong. So God had to use the mouth of a donkey to speak to them. To open their eyes so to say. Notice, Balaam said, (and I am paraphrasing here) I'm sorry Lord, I did not know that you were the one stopping the donkey. In other words, had I known you were watching I would have behaved differently. Isn't that true? Don't we sometimes respond to things differently when we know we are being watched? Well, my point is, God is always watching, so we should not have to have a donkey speak to us to tell us when we are doing wrong, we should be listening to our inner man, the Holy Spirit living within us. If our inner man is telling us not to do or say something, then we need to listen, in other words don't argue with the donkey. And we need to be sure that when we listen to God, it is God that we are listening to, and not question Him when He tells us to do something. Don't try to go around the back door to make something right that is wrong. That would be arguing with the donkey. You know what is right and what is wrong, so don't anger God and cause Him to send a donkey to speak to you, because you won't listen to the Holy Spirit. AMEN!

I hope this story helps us the next time we get ready to do something that is a little underhanded, we will stop and rethink what we are about to do or say and not do it. Amen!
Neta

We Are Heirs With No Fear

Being heirs with Christ, we have been given a Spirit of power, we are more than conquerors, we no longer have a spirit of fear and bondage.

Romans 8 v 15....For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father"........

Notice how this scripture is written. The first time the word spirit is spelled out with a little s, because it is of no significance, fear is no longer relevant, fear has no hold on you any longer, because notice the next time the word spirit is spelled out, (Spirit) that is because it is the Holy Spirit the word is talking about, and He will intercede to the Father when we cry out for help. He will put the spirit of fear under our feet, we have the authority to step on the neck of fear and trample that spirit under our feet. AMEN!

Romans 8 v 16-17a....The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.......

While reading in my bible, there was a word focus on the word adoption. We are adopted unto God through Christ Jesus.

Greek word for adoption is huiothesia...huios meaning son, and thesis meaning placement.
It is a legal term that in this context indicates that believers have been given the full privileges of sonship in God's family. Concurrent with this placement into sonship, God places the Spirit of His Son into our hearts so that we become, in effect, His natural born children. As such, we are not just "adopted" (in the sense the word now conveys) but genuinely "begotten" by God, God makes children of men into children of God. Opposite than what He did with Jesus. Jesus being the son of God, became Son of Man.

So the next time the world tries to throw something at you, and cause fear to rise up in you, stop and remember that you are a Son of God and there is no such thing as fear in you. You just cry out to your Father and He will give you the strength and the power to trample that fear under your feet. HALLELUJAH! You have the rights to the Kingdom, you are of Royalty, you are God's child and when you get this into your spirit the Spirit Man (the Holy Spirit within you) will rise up in you and the enemy will have to bow down to God and can not harm you.

Now wouldn't you rather walk through life knowing that God is on your side and you are protected from the enemy instead of walking in fear from the things of this world, the things that are happening all around you. Don't you want to say like that song, "you can't touch this". Because in fact when you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you have faith in God's word then you can say, "you can't touch this" and say it with confidence. AMEN!

Neta

Shake The Dust

Jesus tells us when we are sharing the good news with someone and they harden their hearts against it and will not hear it, we are to shake them off like the dust from our feet and move on. We do not cease to pray for these, we just can not hang out with them.

Matt. 10 v 14....and whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.....

It is very important for us to watch over our Spirit Man and what we feed into ourselves. We can not hang around with corruption for too long, or the corruption (sin) will start to overflow on to us. You see what we feed our spirits has to come out at some time. So when you are around someone who curses all the time, you will begin to pick up that language and the next thing you know you are slipping out curse words yourself. Or another example, is when you are around someone who is negative and only has woe me things to say, you will begin to talk and think the same way. Sometimes you have to hurt some feelings by removing yourself from these type of people, in order to keep your own spiritual health. These people may be friends and family members, but the word of God says to keep watch over our hearts (which is our soil) so that the works of iniquity can not defile us. In other words be careful of what kind of seeds get deposited into your soil (your heart). AMEN

Sometimes it is hard to cut ourselves off from our friends and family but Jesus Himself, says that this will happen in some cases.

Luke 12 v 53...".father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother in law against daughter in law and daughter in law against her mother in law."....

This does not mean that you have free reign to separate yourself from your family, this is just saying that if these people cause you to sin or are harmful to your spirit man then you may have to love them from afar. You may have to stick to limited communication. Now, I know there are some that will say the word says to honor your father and your mother, and you would be correct, but to honor does not mean to be in their presence. You can honor them without being in their presence.

So let us all keep a watch over our mouths and our hearts and keep His word first in our hearts, our minds and our souls and all other things will come into place. AMEN!
Neta

Don't Bite

While reading our devotional the other day, something stuck with me about how when Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, He never took the bait. When Satan would quote a scripture to Jesus, but out of the wrong context, Jesus would say "it is written", and He would not fall prey to Satan's ploy to destroy His faith in His Father's word.

For example in Genesis when the serpent (who was evil in disguise) tricked Eve into eating the apple by making her think that maybe Adam had not heard God right and maybe it was ok to eat the apple. In other words he put doubt in her mind and in her heart. So you see, she took the bait, she bit, where Jesus did not bite, because He knew the word, and He would not let the devil trick Him out of His faith. His faith level was where it needed to be, so that He did not take the bait. In other words, he didn't bite.

Genesis 3 v 2-4.....and the woman said to the serpent, "we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die'. Then the serpent said to the woman, "You shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."........

Eve bit! For lack of knowledge.

Matthew 4 v 1-4...Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones become bread." But He answered and said, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."......

Jesus didn't bite! Because He knew the word of God. You see He could've turn the stones into bread to prove the devil wrong, but He didn't need to, He had enough faith to know that God was going to take care of Him, and the devil was just trying to make Him doubt.

That is why it is so important for us to know the word of God and know what He says, and that is why we read it for ourselves so that the Holy Spirit can interpret for us what God is saying so that when the tempter comes against us and tries to tell us, well you know your family history, everybody in your family has had this, or you can't do that, it is too hard and that is just too much work, or well you know what the statistics say about that, according to statistics it will never work, and on and on and on and on. You better have the word of God in your heart to speak back at the tempter and rebuke the negative things they say. The tempter comes in all forms of disguises, he could come from one of your family members, or friends who think they are telling you what you need to hear, but you know that doesn't line up with God's word. Don't just have the word in your head, because Satan had the word in his head, but not in his heart. You see when the word is in your heart that is faith, because you believed it and stored it in your heart. When you memorize scripture in your head, and you do not mix them with faith and put them in your heart, then all you have is a box of useless words. AMEN!
Neta

490

Does anyone know what the number signifies? If you read the same devotional I do, then you probably knew right off where I was going with this. How many times in a day do you think you could actually sin against someone? Ok, now you are catching on. HA!

You know if you actually thought about it, I mean about every word you say to someone, every thought you have had today about this person or that person, how about looking at someone and thinking I wonder what she was thinking when she got dressed this morning, or is he trying to grow a beard or what? Or that hair style just does not become her, or she must really think she is something. You get the picture. Those are times during the day that you sin. Now I know you might think, oh that is not a sin, that is just an observation. Wrong! It is sin. Because if you are honest with yourself, you know you did not think it as just an observation, you thought it in a way of criticism. Now what about when you say, that is interesting when you are really thinking, yeh right! SIN! You see we sin all day long, and then when we go to God to repent for our sins for that day, we think wow, I was really good today, I did not bite off anybody's head, or say any curse words, or cheat on my test, etc. etc. Well, that is how we miss the boat. You see when we can not recognize that we are sinning, we are being deceived by the devil and before long, we will harden our hearts and we will not be able to hear from God. Because we are so stuck on our own thoughts and what we think about these sins, like for instance thinking they are of no consequence, then before long, even the bigger things we do will seem of no consequence until finally we are sin consumed.

We have to become responsible for our own sins. We have to humble ourselves and realize that we are not always right and the other person wrong. We have to recognize that everything is not all about us. We need to see that when we get easily offended we are in sin. Because the word says to walk in love is to not be easily offended. When we are easily offended we have fallen into the trap of being self centered and self righteous instead of being Christ centered and the righteousness of Christ. Now I know some who might not agree with this, because it steps on their toes too much, but hey, I promise it does not step on your toes any worse than it steps on mine. Sometimes, I have to quit writing these tid-bits long enough to go soak my feet and bandage them up because my whole foot gets smashed and not just my toes.

You see when I write these things it is usually because God is reprimanding me on my actions. I do not see when I first start writing this, that this is a word for me, no I think, Oh, I have this great tid-bit, this will do so and so some good today, and before I am finished, I am soaking my own feet. I am the so and so God intended this word for. God is so good about bringing me back to His word, and out of my own selfish world. AMEN! Am I talking to anybody out there today or is it just me that needed this word. Hallelujah, I am just thankful that God can yank me right when I am in wrong
thinking.

Matthew 18 v 21-22...Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.".........

So now, If I have offended anyone out there today, or this week, please forgive me as I forgive any who have offended me. Help me walk in the love of the Lord toward you by forgiving me my sins against you. I love you all. Pray for the healing in my feet.
Neta

Don't Be Dry Bones

Are you dry bones? While reading in Ezekiel 37 this morning, God showed me there are alot of dry bones out in the world. In fact, there are a lot of dry bones in the churches. Dry bones are spiritually dead people. They do not know how to activate or choose not to activate their spirit man living within them. They keep Him under lock and key for fear of humility, embarrassment, dis-belief, and I am sure there are other reasons as well. Some are just sitting in the pews keeping the pews warm, some are actually very busy working in the churches, but they are still spiritually dead. No matter how the pastor tries to draw out their spirit man, they refuse to let go and be free in Christ with allowing the Holy Spirit to freely worship through them. They will not come out of their comfort zone, or worse even, the Holy Spirit isn't even present in them yet. Why is it so hard to do what the word of God tells us to do? Lift up holy hands and praise Him. Pray in the Spirit always.

1 Tim 2 v 8...I desire therefor that the men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting...
Ps. 63 v 4....Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.....
Ps 141 v 2...Let my prayer be set before You as incense, The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice....
The lifting up of hands is a form of prayer to the Lord.

Ephes. 6 v 18....Praying always in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perserverance and supplication for all the saints....
Jude 20....But you beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.....

Now I am not saying that everyone in church should be speaking in tongues, for how would those who are not accustom understand what is going on? But you are to pray in the Holy Spirit when you are praying to God. There is so much argument over this, and I do not understand how someone can argue with the word of God. Don't just read part of the scriptures that tell you about praying in tongues, and pick out the part you agree with, read the entire passage, so that you can understand what Paul is saying when he speaks on tongues. Don't be quick to pick and choose, and harden your heart to the rest. I think you will be surprised that there is a beautiful prayer language in you just waiting to be heard by God.

We say as Christians that we believe every word of the Bible is God Breathed. Yet some of us still want to pick and choose. Well, just do then like someone told me once, just tear out all the pages of the bible that has things you don't believe written on them, and see what kind of bible you are left with. Amen!

Ezek. 37 v 1-4...The hand of the LORD came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" So I answered, "O LORD God, You know." Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.....

I for one am thankful for the Holy Spirit living within me, and freeing me up to praise God the way He deserves to be praised, with no holding back but just giving it all up to Him. AMEN!
I will continue to lift my hands to my Father, so that He can lift me up, I don't want Him to feel as if He has to stoop over and pick me up all the time, but that He sees me lifting my praise to Him freely, unashamedly and not just always in need, but in glorifying Him in all things giving Him praise and thanksgiving. But I do not think this is just talking about being dry in the spirit but also in your worship just all around. You see, some people are just going through the motions and may have not ever even been saved. There are alot of unsaved people working in the churches today in important roles, the time has come if this is you, please humble yourself before the Lord and ask His forgiveness, and accept Him publicly, so that you may experience the full joy of the Lord and His blessings in your life. AMEN!

"Father, do not let me ever do anything for show, but only out of reverence and respect for you. AMEN!" Please do not quench the fire of the Holy Spirit living within you, don't just be a pile of dry bones.
Neta

Some Things Need Repeating

We are ambassadors of Christ Jesus. Our ministry is to reconcile the world to Christ Jesus, not imputing people their sins, but as God did for us through Christ Jesus, we are to do the same for the world. We are to forgive them their sins as Jesus does, and we are to love them into the fold. We were not sent out to judge the world, but to plead to the world as if God Himself was begging them to receive Christ and be forgiven and start a new life as a new creation in Jesus.

2 Cor. 5 v 18-20...Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Chirst's behalf, be reconciled to God.....

We do not need to preach hell fire and brimstone at the lost, they already know all about it. In other words they know how they are living, and they know when they have done wrong. We are to show them that they can receive forgiveness, and be loved beyond their imaginations by the one who died for all sins and took their sins as well as ours upon that cross on his body.

2 Cor. 5 v 21...For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him...

Sometimes we forget too quickly what we were like before we came to know Christ as our savior, and we look down at these sinners. We need to be good stewards of the word and walk in love toward all of our fellow men, regardless of their walk at the time we meet them.

2 Cor. 5 v 16-17...Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer....

In other words we do not know Christ as man any longer, but now as our Lord and Savior, who forgave us our sins and saved us from ourselves and the way we were living.

Just as we are told that we will be held accountable for every idle word, it is the same for our thoughts as well. Our thoughts are words unspoken out loud, but they are still spoken to the Lord, for He knows our every thought. So just because you are looking at that beggar on the street and not saying out loud what you think, God sees into the deep recesses of your heart and knows exactly what you are thinking about one of His. You see, Christ Jesus died for everyone on the face of this earth, not just the saved people like you and me, but everyone, and when they repent and come to Him, He will receive them just like He received you. He is no respector of man.

Matt. 12 v 36...But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement...

Ps 94 v 11....The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile....

Romans 2 v 11....for there is no partiality with God....

Today as we go out into the world, and we are surrounded by the lost, let us not look at them as lost, but as someone who needs a good word today, an uplifting word, a truth to get them on the right road to salvation, the road that leads to Jesus, and lets do it with love in our hearts and not judgement. AMEN!

Neta

Loving While Under Stress

We can walk around praising the Lord, and singing songs to Him, but then let someone offend us, or take too long to handle our problem and we want to get in the flesh. You know what I am talking about. ie...say you made reservations for something or somewhere for a really busy time of year, and this place or thing you reserved is so popular that everyone else made reservations also. Well, when you get there you find the person who made your reservations did not complete the job, they forgot to hit the enter key at the end of the transaction so your reservations were actually never made, or completed. So now, they are all sold out, they have no more of what you wanted. I mean really no more. Zilch! Nadda! No More! Get the picture. What is your first reaction and how do you respond? Remember there is no where else to go because everyone is all booked up. What is your reaction? Be Honest! I have to tell you, I can not think of one person I know that would not get in their flesh and become angry. I am just being honest. I know alot of people, and I have witnessed how they respond to similar situations, and I can honestly say I do not know even one that would not get in their flesh. Now there are a very small few, that would quickly repent, and apologize and rethink their response, but they would still first get upset and in the flesh. This is the human nature part of us. This is the worldly part of us. The question is, how long are you going to argue with that person, how long are you going to complain about this incident, how long before you repent and realize you are acting contrary to the way God says you are to act?

Here is where we get into trouble. We stay in that spirit of sin for too long. We keep re-hashing it over and over until we work ourselves up again. This is where addicts get in trouble. They stay in the will of the evil one wanting that next fix instead of in the will of God. Why, because the will of the evil is too easy, and the will of God to do what is right is not always easy. In fact sometimes, it is very challenging. But when you build your faith, and you keep your spirit under the word all the time and on a constant basis, you will find the will of God is the easier road and can only bring about good.

James 1 vs 2-6....My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind....

James 1 v 12-15....Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He, Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is full grown, brings forth death....

You see we can not blame our behavior on anyone but ourselves. What is in a man's heart, so is he. Prov. 23 v 7a...for as he thinks in his heart, so is he... What comes out of our mouth is what is in our heart in the first place. Matt. 12 v 34b...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks... We do not like to think that, but sometimes, according to some of the ways we act or things we say, that is the truth of it. When we deliberately try to go against the grain, or rub a person the wrong way, do things we know will irritate them, then we are in sin against God, because we are deliberately dis-obeying the one thing, He told us was most important, to love Him with all of our mind, body and souls, and to walk in love toward our neighbor. If we are not walking in love toward our neighbor, then we are not loving God with all of our mind, body and soul. WOW! 1 John 4 v 20-21....If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also....

So for all of us, that think we love God so much, let us see how much you really love Him when your reservations get cancelled. Will you look for who to blame, or will you praise God that just maybe He had a reason to keep you out of this place. And let Him bless you with something even better. Sort of like, when everyone told David, Goliath was too big for him to go against, and he said, he is too big for me to miss. That is how I want to be, positive in every situation praising and thanking God for everything, and that is the type of people I want in my circle of friends. Amen! Ask God everyday to not let anything that would not be pleasing to His ears pass from your lips or enter into your thoughts. AMEN!
Neta

Statistics

As a child of God you are not just another statistic. AMEN! You are highly favored by God, and He says that harm shall not come near you. I have really just recently grabbed ahold of this scripture.

Ps 91 v 7....A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you...

Do you see what the word of God is saying? Just because the statistics say that this many have fell victim to this or that, does not mean you will. In fact the word says you will not. The word says it shall not come near you. Vs. 10...No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in ALL your ways....

So don't start focusing on statistics when something tries to come against you, focus on the word of God and what He has to say about it. His word is truth. HALLELUJAH!! He shall deliver you from your circumstances. AMEN

Neta

God Lives Big In Me

There is a TV program with Marilyn and Sarah Hickey that I watch sometimes, and they always end with God Lives Big in Me. I never really paid much attention to the saying, until last night I was reading some scriptures, and BAM, something struck a nerve ending in my brain and I thought OH, now I get it. Some of us are just slower than others with our revelations. God understands that.

Romans 5 v 5...Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us...

Ok, here is where I am going with this.
John 1 v 1...In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

John 1 v 14...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth...

John 14 v 19-20..a little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you....

John 14 v 23...Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him....

John 14 v 25-26..."These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.....

1 John 5 v 7...For there are three that bear witness in heaven; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one....

Ok, we have established that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one. RIGHT!
Well, then if you are born again and have received the Holy Spirit then you have a piece of God living within you. That Great Big God, that Great Burning Fire is alive within you. Once you grab that and know that, then how can you have fear of anything coming against you? Who or what would have the boldness to go against a God that big? That is why it is so important to pray in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that God Himself left in you, a piece of Him, don't let the Spirit lay there dormant and let your fire be quenched or worse put out completely because you do not feed the flames. Just imagine when you pray in the Spirit, you are fanning those flames, and the fire of God is so big in you, that people better watch out, they may walk away with singed hair on their arms from the glory of God coming through you. HALLELUJAH! Isn't that exciting? My goodness, I just want to shout, GOD LIVES BIG IN ME! WHOO, watch out enemies, watch out devil, the fire that lives in me is bigger than any flames you can throw. You think hell is hot, you better not try coming close to these flames of My God. AMEN! And that is how you need to talk to the devil or whatever is trying to come against you. God says, you better back off because you don't want to see Him get fired up when someone tries to come against one of His kids. HALLELUJAH!!

Now, get in the presence of God today, and pray out through your Spirit Man and let the flames of God get fired up in you. Let God show you just how big He can really be in your life and in your situations. Glory to God, I might just have to run around and shout some more. God's Fire in me is firing up. So the next time you feel a hot flash, just maybe that is the flames of God firing up in you, and not hormones. That is a thought maybe the devil is trying to tell us we have hormonal issues when really it is the fire of God, and the devil is getting scared. Hallelujah!!
Neta

As For Me

Well, David wasn't the only one who could write love letters to God, telling Him just how he felt about Him and what he wanted to do with his life. Here is mine. How about you, will you write a love letter to God, showing Him your true heart?

PS 17 v 15...As for me I will see Your face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness....

In other words, I will not be satisfied until I can see myself becoming more like Jesus, then I shall begin but only begin to get satisfied. I will never be just like Him, but I will strive to be a good copy of Him, by reacting as He would re-act to a situation. In my words, my actions and yes even my thoughts I want to be more like Him.

I want to always seek Him first and His righteousness, then the rest of the Lord Jesus will come into my life.
Matt 6 v 33...but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you...

I want to know His word and everything about my God. I want to have His praises on my lips at all times, so that negative and unrighteous things can not pass through my lips.
I want to share the love of Christ with every single person I come into contact with. I want the boldness of the saints to open my mouth to speak of Him and His loving kindness, His goodness, His mercy and His grace for all who will believe.

PS 146 v 2...While I live, I will praise the LORD, I will sing praises to my God while I have my being...

PS 71 v 8...Let my mouth be filled with Your praise and with Your glory all the day...

I want to be one of the laborers bringing in the harvest that Jesus is so compassionate about. Starting with my own family and friends.

Matt. 9 v 35-38....Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the LORD of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."....

Just think if everyone of us, would just take a minute with everyone we speak with in a day, and ask them, "Has anyone ever told you how much Jesus loves you?, Can I share with you what He did for me?" and if they answer you with a negative response, you can still say, I just wanted to make sure that you knew how much the Lord loves you. Be Blessed. Then go on your way and pray over that seed you just sowed. Pray the LORD will send more laborers across their path, and then one will come along when their heart is ready to receive. AMEN

I can't wait to get out there in the world today and put what I am preaching to work. I am tired of being a hearer only, I want to be a doer. AMEN!
Neta

Fill Up On God

Do you ever get a peaceful reassurance feeling when you fill your gas tank to full? A feeling, like ok now I am set I can go for awhile before having to put any more gas in my car. Everything should be good now. Maybe that is just me, from years of not having enough money and running out of gas about 2 or 3 times a week. So much so, that my daddy and little brother would cringe when I called the shop because they just knew they were going to have to come and fix my car and usually that just meant putting gas in it. It is not that they didn't love me but, it is just that they knew where I was spending my money when I should have had gas in my car to get me back and forth to work. Praise God, I have gas now, and more than enough, I don't care how high the devil tries to run the prices up, My God says I shall have more than enough. HALLELUJAH!!

Well, anyway back to my point, that feeling. I thought about something this morning when the Holy Spirit was trying to get me out of my comfortable bed and get into the word. He was telling me, that this should be my time with the LORD, before anything else of the day can come into my spirit. I should first fill up on God. While sharing this with Rob, he brought out a good point. When we go to school as children, we go first thing in the morning, so that what we learn we retain better, because we have not had time yet to get our minds focused on other things. Or when we exercise, we like to start first thing in the morning because then our muscles and our bodies remember the stretches, and the exercise we put them through and they are energized for the rest of the day. Not like if we lay in bed, or sit on the couch, then our bodies become lethargic and lazy. So maybe that is why all throughout the word of God, we see that the people of faith, arose early so that they could seek out God and spend time in His presence before doing anything else.

If we rise early and fill up on God, then the rest of the day we should be able to walk out our faith walk, walk out our love walk, and then maybe we would not be just hearers of the word, but actually doers of the word. You see, when we do our bible studies at night like Rob and I do, then we go to sleep. We do sleep peacefully and restfully, and I think we should give God time before we go to bed also, but if we would give Him time in the morning we would have our hearts full of His word to get us through the day.

Another point that came to me, is the word says to give 10% of our first fruits. So I guess 10% of our time would be the first part of the day. Well, then we all have 24 hours in a day. So God should get 2 hours and 40 minutes of every day. Would it be right to say, that He should get the first 2 hours and 40 minutes? I mean that would be the first fruits of our time. Right? I know now, some of you people who like to sleep in are saying no that ain't right. HA! But, I think it is. I mean you could use the old way and say the day starts at 4pm the day before, so I guess you could give Him from 4-6:40pm every day. But if we want to get all technical like that, then maybe we should step back and look at why we are spending time with God in the first place. Not out of law, but out of love.

So whatever time you decide to give God, give it to God and God alone. Just you and Him having tea in the morning and discussing His word, or hot chocolate at night discussing His word and His will for your life. Just search your heart and see how much time you can spare for God. OUCH!

PS 5 v 3...My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning, I will direct it to You, and I will look up...

PS 88 v 13...But to You I have cried out, O LORD, and in the morning my prayer comes before You...

Lam 3 v 22-23...Through the LORDs' mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness....

Love ya
Neta

Are You Afraid To Get Out Of Your Boat

Today in my devotional was the story of Peter getting out of the boat to walk on water to Jesus. But we know the story, how when Peter took his eyes off the Lord, and looked at his circumstances he got afraid and started to sink. But don't let the story stop there. Jesus pulled Peter up and brought him safely back to the boat. He said why do you have so little faith Peter? Why did you take your eyes off of Me? In other words if you would have stayed focused on Me and not on the wind, you would have been fine.

We so many times when we are facing a crisis, first call out on Jesus. But then when things seem like nothing is changing, we get afraid and start looking to the world for answers. We start talking to our friends and family members about our problem sometimes just to whomever will listen. That is the worse thing we could do. You see then you are putting all your focus on the problem and not on God and what His word says about your situation.

Another scripture that brings to mind is Heb. 11 v 1....Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen....

You see when we stay focused on something, when we continue to speak about something, we are giving substance and bringing into being whatever it is we are focused on. We are creating this substance. Whether it be faith or the problem. If we stayed focused on our faith and God's word, we would be building our faith into a mighty substance that nothing can shake. But if we stay focused on the problem then we are creating, giving substance, bringing to life the problem, and it has now become bigger than our faith. WOW!
Be real careful walking on that sea. Because depending on what your problem is, you could very easily drown in it. (Hence the saying drowning in our sorrows.) I would rather be drowning in the word of God and speaking His authority over my problem, so when I have a problem, I go to the word and stay in the word, and seek God and what He has to say. I might still slip and fall but I am quick to reach for Jesus' hand when I slip and put my eyes back on Him and rebuke that problem. And when we get back to the boat, the hole in the boat is fixed and the problem is dissolved. HALLELUJAH!

You see our God is still bigger than any problem, He is still seated on the throne, no one has ever or will ever overthrow His throne. He can just pufffff out a breath of air at your problem and it dissipates just like vapor. AMEN!

Matthew 14 v 28-30...And Peter answered Him and said, "LORD if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "COME" And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "LORD, save me!"......

Matthew 14 v 31-32....And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they got into the boat the wind ceased....

Prov. 4 v 20-23...My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life....

Don't stay in your boat with your problems, focus on Jesus and keep your eyes on His word and get out of that sinking boat while you still can and let Jesus give you a new and better boat. AMEN

Neta

Security

My word today was security, and when I looked in the back of my bible to find all the scriptures with the word security in them, there was only one. I am sure the word is in the bible more than once, but in my concordance in the back of my bible, there was only one. It was found in Job 24 v 23.
Now I wasn't sure where to go with that, so I decided to just start reading Job and really take a good look at Job, and I thought what a great book for the word security to be in. Through all of Job's trials, he was getting so desperate, and his friends came and were giving him all sorts of advice, but then in chapter 13, I noticed Job takes on a new outlook and rebukes his friends and their advice. In other words instead of praying for Job, they were giving him doom and gloom.

When I read down in the comments below, I read where it says Job rejects the imcompetent counsel of his three friends, and he compares them to worthless physicians who have made a wrong diagnosis concerning the cause of his disease and sufferings. (Now, I am not saying physicians are worthless, but I am saying they can be fed the lies of the devil just like you, and it is up to you to know what God says about your situation.) Now if we could all be like Job, and recognize the devil's lies when he tries to tell us something is wrong with us, and instead look to God for His truth and what He says about our situations. Sometimes, well meaning friends and family members are not in the right place with their faith for you to share your prayer requests with. In other words like Job's friends, they might just want to console you, and grieve with you, and this is their way of comforting you. Those are the ones you stay away from, during this time of trial. You do not need any more team members on the devil's side agreeing with what he is trying to put on you. No, this is the time that you go to your comforter that Jesus left you with. The Holy Spirit. And then you call your prayer warriors, who have faith to move mountains, and believe that God still works miracles today. These are the ones you have praying in your corner.

I have to share a miracle that happened the other day. My daughter-in-law's grandmother was having a hip replacement, and when they went in they found a staff infection in the socket of her hip, so they could not put her new hip in, until she was on antibiotics for 6 weeks, then they would wait 3 weeks check her blood work and if all was good put in the new hip. Well, at the end of the 6 weeks, they checked the blood work and nothing had changed. The antibiotic did not phase the situation, so they told her they would have to change the antibiotic and do another 6 weeks. (Now remind you she is pretty much having to stay put in a chair, only to go to the bathroom, and back and forth to bed, during this time, as she has no hip.) This is not a lady who is accustomed to sitting, this is someone who still works everyday, and is very active. When they told her this, she was devastated, and immediately the devil tried to come in on her thoughts, and cause her to think all kinds of things were wrong with her. Well, Brandon, went to the men of his church, (some prayer warriors) and Emily called on the prayer warriors she knew, and we all started rebuking that report calling it a lie of the devil, and God's word says Nanny was healed and her blood work would come back perfect, so they had more blood work done, and HALLELUJAH, it came back perfect. You see God didn't quit performing miracles when Jesus died on the cross, No, that is when He performed the biggest miracle of all, and raised Jesus from the dead after He died for all of our sicknesses and diseases. You see Nanny had security in the Lord Jesus, because she is a born again child of God, so when those prayer warriors went to God on her behalf with their prayers and speaking the word of God over her situation, God heard and knocked that enemy right out of her. HALLELUJAH!!!

You see Job kept questioning God about his troubles, and why He would let him suffer these trials. But then, finally in the latter part of Job, He understood, that it was not God's will to punish him. And he recants the words he spoke against Him. And God, brings him through with blessings more than he had before, and Job lived one-hundred forty years and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.

Now, I don't know about you, but that is the type of security I want in God, that no matter what the devil tries to throw at me, I will stand and praise God and thank Him, for He is faithful to bring me through with the victory. AMEN

Job 1 v 8-12...Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? So Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!" And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person."

You see God did not put those things on Job, Satan did. God knew Job's heart and knew he would not turn from Him, as you will see in the scipture below. Job tells God,

Job 42 v 2...I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You....

Job 42 v 16...After this Job lived one hundred forty years and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days....

You see you too, can have the security of knowing the devil can not take you out before God's purpose in your life is fullfilled, or before your days are full in God's eyes if you will look to Him for your security and deliverance instead of blaming Him. AMEN Give God the Praise! HALLELUJAH!
Neta

Suddenly

How many times does the word tell us something was done suddenly? Well, I don't know exactly how many times, but it is used over and over in the word of God.

PS 6 v 10...Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly....

How would you like all your enemies suddenly to be ashamed and turned away from you, never to bother you again. HALLELUJAH!

Mal. 3 v 1..."Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me, and the LORD, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts.....

The word tells us that Jesus will come suddenly. Are you ready? Prepare your hearts today, and get ready. Jesus is referred to as the Bride Groom and we as the church are the Bride. Have you ever seen a Bride who did not prepare for her wedding day with great anticipation? Making sure that everything is perfect for when the groom sees her that day? We should be the same way, preparing our hearts for that day, every day until it arrives. AMEN

Those of you who never got to have the big wedding, here is your chance. Go all out and prepare your heart today, put on your best for the Lord Jesus your groom.
Neta

Who Does He Say To Imitate

WOW, While reading my devotional today, something Kenneth Copeland said, jumped off those pages and just about knocked me out of my chair. He was talking about the story of the woman with the issue of blood and how she touched the garment of Jesus and was healed. He was saying how at some time or other we all wish we could have been in that crowd that day, following Jesus, or even being the woman who touched the garment. BUT!!!! He pointed out this very important point and I hope we all get it today. Jesus did not say wish you were one of them, go out and be like my disciples. NO, He said go out and imitate ME, be like ME, act like ME, do the works I do, be My witnesses, stand in MY place. WOW! Did you get that? Jesus is telling you to stand in HIS place. Instead of you being the one trying to grab the hem of the garment, you should be the one wearing the garment of Christ, you should be the one with the annointing flowing through you.

OK, now all you people full of religiosity, come on back down off the chandeliers. I am not saying we are to be Jesus, but the word says we are to clothe ourselves with Christ. We are to put on the garment of Jesus, and go about doing His works. Not just go about talking about His works, but actually doing His works. We are to put on our new man. Who is our new man, but the Holy Spirit of Christ Himself. So you will have to take your arguments to Jesus on that one. I mean really think about it. Why would He tell us to act like someone else. Even Billy Graham as great as he is, he still is not perfect nor is he God. But he would be a great example to follow. But Christ, goes one step futher, He says to act like HIM.

I truly believe if we could ever grasp what that means, and grab hold of all that annointing power, people would not be walking around sick today. Because we as Christians would be out there actually doing the work of Christ and not just preaching about it. AMEN!

Someone walks up to you and says, oh I feel so bad, they just told me I have this, or that, you would just slap your hand on them and say COME OUT OF THEM IN THE NAME OF JESUS, and say it like you were Jesus Himself, and whatever it was would come out so fast our heads would be spinning with theirs. HALLELUJAH!! If you truly said it like you were Jesus Himself, it wouldn't matter if they were born again or not, you would have spoken with so much authority that even the devil himself would take off running the other way, if he was trying to sneak up on you. HA HA! LORD, I'm about to preach myself happy! I gotta calm down so I can finish typing this out. I get so excited sometimes, my fingers can't punch the right keys.

Col. 3 v 10...and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him......

Notice it didn't say according to someone else's image, it says according to the image of Him who created you.

John 14 v 12..."Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.......

John 14 v 17..the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you....

So you see, the Spirit of God is not only with you, but in you, so tap into that spirit when things try to come against you, and use it like Jesus Himself would use it, and don't only help yourself, but help others with the power you have been given in Christ Jesus. AMEN
Neta

We Are Not There Yet

We as Christians sometimes think when we hear the word, Oh I've heard that a thousand times before, or yeh, I know that story. But maybe, just maybe God is trying to give you insight to something else in that scripture passage that you may not have gotten the first time. You see, we can not quit learning and striving to be more like Jesus. This is an ongoing everyday affair for us. In other words, you may have read the bible through and through, cover to cover a hundred times but that does not mean you got it. His word needs to be fresh and new in us every day. We do not want to become stale Christians. You may have been raised in Sunday School as a child and been churched all your life, but that does not mean you have reached your goal in Christ Jesus.

Personally, I think once you have reached your goal in Christ Jesus, then it is time for you to go home and be with the LORD. I mean why else would He need to keep you on this earth, if you have reached your goal, and you are not striving to work for Him, and continuously do His works? I mean I am ready to go when the Lord is ready for me to go, but hey, I don't want to cut my time short just because I have sat down and quit working for Him. AMEN!

Our goal everyday should be to bring another person into the kingdom of God. Now, I know that is not easy for some of us. I am not the best at going out and witnessing to people but I try to do my witnessing through my tid-bits, or just through my character and behavior toward others. But, I have really been thinking about this lately. People have always said I could sell ice to an eskimo, well then why is it so hard for me to share my Jesus with others. I mean the Lord has really stepped on my toes about this. I sold Mary Kay and was a sales director for Mary Kay which is not an easy task to become, I mean out of 2 million ladies only 2% ever make it to be a sales director. But I believed in the product so strongly that I did not have a hard time selling it. But once that belief was diminished, I quit selling the product. So if I say I believe so strongly in the Lord Jesus Christ, why do I have a hard time sharing Him with others? It is I think because I need training in that area. And what better place to get training than from the word of God, and from Jesus Himself. AMEN! So for all you sales people out there who call yourselves Christians, how many people have you shared the Lord with today? Let me challenge you in the same way God is challenging me. When you are at a party or some sort of get together, instead of trying to sell your insurance, makeup, cars or whatever you might be selling, try talking about the Lord Jesus to them instead. AMEN. I think now of all the times I put makeup on young ladies faces, how many times I could have shared the Lord Jesus with them at the same time. HMMMM, maybe that is an avenue I need to re-visit. I mean a woman is not going to leave with her face half way made up, so I would kind of have them right where I needed them. HA! Just a thought. Oh well, back to my tid-bits, the scripture that led me to this today is in Philippans.

Phil. 3 v 12-14...Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus....

You see, Paul had gotten it, he knew that he had not reached his full potential, or his full purpose in Christ yet, and when he did, it would be time to go home. When Christ has a purpose for you in life, He is not going to take you out of this life until you have reached that purpose. It is not God's will for any of us to be removed from this earth before we have fulfilled our days. So there is your hint about your purpose, it is not how many cars you can buy, or how many homes you own or how many awards you are given, it will always be about His great works through you.
Neta

Whose Your Money On

God tells us when we have a problem, or when we are in a battle, we are to bring it to Him. If there is an enemy bullying you, and trying to cause you fear, as bullies do, or trying to take you out, He says bring them to Him. He will take care of them. Just like if you were a little girl or boy and a bully at school was trying to beat you up, or causing you fear, your earthly father would be ready to take them out. Well, how much more so, does your heavenly Father want to do the same for you.

He says, just let Him know when someone or something is attacking you, and He will take care of it. He will tell that enemy, look you, My Son has already paid the price for that with His blood, so you can just leave now, while you still can, because I will not let you attack my little girl. This is what God showed me just the other night, when I was being attacked by the devil. I called out on the name of Jesus, and I got the word out and read PS 91, and God says, I've got you covered, here under My wings, and your Lord and brother Jesus is sitting right here beside you, and I have got angels surrounding your entire dwelling place, so you can't even stump your toe without one of them to catch you. So you just don't fret, I will send this devil down with a thud like I've done many times before, and he will have to leave you alone, because I said so, and My word still rules over that devil today. HALLELUJAH!!! Our God is a great big GOD! AMEN! He says, there is no one that is bigger than I AM, so if I AM for you, who can be against you. AMEN AMEN

The thing is, you have to be willing to let it go, and let God have it. Because there are battles that you can not win, but Jesus has already fought that battle and He has the victory over it and He wants to share that victory with you, but He can't unless you give it to Him, and don't try to take it back, because He doesn't need your help, you need HIs. If we could just get that through our heads, that it is not for us to fight, we would live alot less worrisome lives. That is why it is so important that we stay in the word of God daily and stay under the teaching of the word, because faith comes by hearing the word of God.

PS 55 v 22...Cast your burden on the LORD, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved....

1 Cor. 15 v 57...but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ....

1 John 5 v 4....for whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world- Our Faith....

PS 91...v 1-11...He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust." Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.....

Romans 8 v 31...what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?......

So build your faith up daily and don't wait until your crisis hits and then try to build it, you need it before it hits, so that you can have the trust in the Father to let Him take over and defeat your enemies.
Neta

Freedom

PS 146 v 7...Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry, The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners....

My word today was freedom, and this was the scripture. I thought, OK, where is this going? Then the Lord showed me, that being a prisoner doesn't necessarily mean being locked behind bars. We have all at some time in our lives been a prisoner to something or someone. We may have been a prisoner to food, when we knew we needed to lose weight. Maybe, like myself, you were a prisoner or still are to smoking or drinking. Being a prisoner is being bound to something, that you are letting control you. When you are literally locked up in prison, the prison guards have control over you. It is the same with our addictions or habits, we are letting them control us, therefore making us a prisoner to them. The devil can also hold us prisoners to thoughts that he puts in our minds. This is a dangerous type of prison and we need to steer clear.

2 Cor. 10 v 5...casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ....

But God's word says, we can bring into captivity the thoughts that try to exalt themselves above God and the Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. We can be free of whatever has us bound here on this earth. God says whatsoever you shall loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. He says he has given you the keys. You just have to choose to use them to unlock your freedom.

Matthew 16 v 19...And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.....

Hallelujah! The freedom is in your hands. You just have to choose to accept to use the keys.
Neta

Slander

PS 50 v 20...You sit and speak against your brother, You slander your own mother's son....

We are always talking about how we are to love one another in Christ, yet sometimes, we have trouble loving our own family members. Why is this? We say, Lord, let us be like Jesus to everyone we come in contact with, but yet, then when it comes to our own siblings, sometimes we do not even give them the time of day. I know I have been guilty of this myself. God did not say to just go out and act like Jesus in public, with people you think will matter, No, He said, we are to love everyone. Call your sibling today, and tell them how much you love and appreciate them. You will feel better after you do.

Prov. 10 v 18...Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool....

The word is telling us that if we harbor hatred in our hearts toward anyone, then we can not say we are of Christ, because Christ says to be of Him is to walk in love toward everyone. If you have someone in your life, that has rubbed you the wrong way, forgive them today, and be set free of hatred, so God can work His blessings into your life.

1 John 2 v 11...But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes....

Now this does not mean just your sibling, this means all God's children.

Next time we think of the word slander, let us remember how God used it. He says they are fools who slander. I for one to not want to be a fool about anything when it comes to God's word. AMEN
Neta