Month: April 2020

How many times have you prayed to God for an answer and He put it right in front of you and you didn’t take it? 

Life is rough! Life as a Christian, at times seems even worse. The bible says that we will face trials and tribulations, we will experience hardships, and that we will be chastened by the Lord. All of these, no matter how hard it is, makes us stronger and brings us closer to our Creator. It means He loves us and wants us to rely more on Him and come closer to Him. Many times in our lives we look for answers to things hoping that this problem we have in front of us will have a solution appear so we can get through it, around it, or just make it go away. So many times we find ourselves in these situations and when the answer presents itself we look the other way because it wasn’t the answer we were looking for, it’s not a conventional idea, or it came from someone else and it just wasn’t our idea. His ways are not our ways.

Sometimes we have to look beyond our own understanding and see what God puts in front of us and move on it. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;” Proverbs 3. Some times these solutions show up and it will be something that no one else agrees with or it’s some off the wall idea. Other times it will come from an unlikely place or it presents itself as the first step of a line of steps to get through it. Almost all of the time the solution is requiring you to step out in faith and trust in the Lord. When you rely on God even when it takes you outside of your comfort zone, you find a bigger blessing there.

I have found often in my life the easy way can sometimes lead you down the wrong path, or the long path, relying on yourself instead of God. God is a jealous God and wants to be with us and to seek Him out. The answer will often present itself from the most unlikely of places in a way that you never saw coming. God wants us to get closer and bond with Him and His word and He will use any circumstance to do it, we just have to look for it. Seek and you shall find. Many times God will use people to give you that answer, or you’ll cross paths with something like a billboard or bumper sticker. His answers come in many ways but you have to look for them and always bring it back to His word. His word, like His love is unfailing, and never changes. You can always count on Him to be there because He will never leave you or forsake you. 

We can run to our church leaders looking for the answer but God doesn’t want to give it to them, He wants to give it to you. He wants to hear you and see you seek Him out for the answer, and the great thing is, that He will be with you as you step out and walk the path He gives you. One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever had is that God won’t tell you something He doesn’t want you to do. He gives it to you, to pray and move on. It’s not how other people react that matters, it’s your obedience to what God wants you to do. Sometimes He is testing your faith and other times it is something that needs done. Regardless, it’s your obedience and act of faith that God wants to see.

The answers always present themselves if you look for it, the outcome is up to you and what you do with it.

Lord, forgive us for looking to ourselves instead of You. Help us to see the answers in front of us. Help us to know your voice and accept the wisdom you give us. Increase our faith to act obediently on the path You put in front of us. Make Your steps clear that we can walk in Your footprints. You are the mighty living God that desires us. You are the jealous God that will do anything to get us. Help us to live with Your heart, see with Your eyes, and walk in Your footsteps. Amen

To all believers in Jesus Christ,

It’s Time for War! A Call to Action!  

Death, sickness, and disease have always weighed heavy on my heart and this virus is all three. I continually cry out to God to see what can be done to stop this and He has responded every time with Matthew 17:20-21 “for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

The church is missing out on a wonderful opportunity to show the love, power, and glory of Jesus. It is great that churches are responding and acting to this pandemic with love and care for the people and seeing people rally together all around the world to help. Our family has been extremely blessed by the church we go to. Through it we are seeing the power of unity and love. There is another way, a more powerful way, to not just get through this but to end this pandemic without more sickness spreading and more people dying. The way is a unified body, coming together in prayer (which I am sure everyone is doing, at least they better), fasting, and communion. 

Throughout the bible, when things looked too big, or too intimidating, or too strong, God’s people went to fasting. Even the demon that couldn’t be cast out by the disciples Jesus said it could only come out by prayer and fasting. “Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the house of God and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening;” When a decree to kill God’s people was in place, Queen Esther and Mordecai requested all Jews fast, God saved His people!

Churches have been asking for this opportunity for a long time. There is a very popular song played by many churches for the past couple years called Oceans. The verse in it says over and over “Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, Let me walk upon the waters, Wherever You would call me, Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, And my faith will be made stronger, In the presence of my Savior”. We are in a place that our faith can be made stronger and we have no choice but to put our trust in Him.

Long story short, I truly believe that we can move this mountain (Covid-19/Coronavirus) if we get all of the believers with just a little faith to stand together, pray, fast, and seal it at the end with communion. 

God wants His people to take this seriously and stand by faith because without faith it is impossible to please God. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of this world. The devil came to steal, kill and destroy and he has done that through Covid19. Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly and He gave us the answer through His word to pray and fast, that we would humble ourselves and become one in unity with Him and each other.

It’s time to mobilize the troops and fight this war head on with the most powerful weapons we have: unity, prayer, fasting, and communion. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of this world. We have an enemy to conquer and it is trying to steal our livelihood by killing, and destroying everything we have. It is our time to bring Jesus Christ front and center. Our time to humble ourselves and focus on the kingdom of God. 

Please help end this virus and mobilize Christians to take this fight seriously. This mountain cannot be removed by prayer alone, but with prayer and fasting. We can go over the mountain or we can move it. Regardless, I know it will pass, just how many more lives will it take before it does.

The only thing that should be spreading is the prayers of God’s people.

We have an opportunity in front of us to honor and please God in the midst of celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by unifying and obeying His word by faith! 

I tell my kids this all the time, that whatever you do and how you do affects everyone else in the world. We can learn a lot from this virus about ourselves and others around us. And we have been forced into a great opportunity to help figure that out. God made each of us with very unique qualities, although we may be alike in many ways each one of us holds a particular piece of the puzzle for the master plan God has for His kingdom. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing can change the lives of someone around you instantly.

We are seeing this today with this Covid-19 virus (coronavirus), that just being around someone can infect them without ever knowing who or how. Daily, as I am driving to the office or to the store, always praying, I think about when an accident happens how it snowballs down to so many, not just locally, but all around the world. Living in Columbus, OH we have a lot of traffic at times and when one person decides to stop paying attention and gets in an accident they hurt themselves and their family members. If another car is involved they just hijacked another life by slowing them down and causing them to take their time and resources to fix everything. Then traffic starts slowing down and eventually comes to a complete stop and the thousands of other people on the road have just had their life delayed. This snowball effect then goes into the places these people were going whether to work or the store, to pick someone up or make a delivery. It delays delivery drivers hauling toilet paper and delivery times that people and companies were depending on, meetings that people needed to be in, income is lost because they are late for work, and so on. This one little instance that happened on a road in Columbus Ohio now has impacted thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people across the world.

By making the choice to pay attention and think about others more than yourself can make, build, or destroy the world around you. We have watched this virus spread from China to the ends of the earth unknowingly at first then knowingly people made choices that allowed it to spread. Now most of the world is on lockdown with the stay at home orders that have been placed throughout many countries and people are making choices not to obey their governments and allowing the virus to spread even more. Trust God, you hear some say as they disregard their government because it made life inconvenient for them. When, if you step back, you see that God has given us warnings, options, and a way to keep us safe from this virus spreading further. Not to mention that the bible says to obey the government (Romans 13, 1 Peter 2). At what point are you testing God. 

“Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and,‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

Life is a very precious thing and bad choices are killing people. Even though we are in our own little bubble, thinking locally, or in our own little world, we need to think of the effects it has on a global scale. Like this little virus that started in a small area and quickly has spread throughout the world so do our daily choices. If we think outside of the box, humble ourselves and view life through the eyes of, how will my action today affect others and the future, we can change lives for the better, we can build up instead of tearing down. We can bless and not curse. We can spread life, not death.

Father, Forgive us for being a selfish generation that thinks only of themselves. Help me to be humble and think of others before ourselves. Help me to know your will for our life and continually guide us each and every step and breath we take. Your amazing plan is what I want mine to be. Your kingdom come Your will be done here on earth as it is in Heaven. Help us to see others the way You do and walk humbly before You and man that they may see You in me. In Jesus’ precious and mighty name. Amen!

And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

Every sickness, every disease, every healing that took place was done by faith. Watching and listening to all of the Covid19 news and stories, you see many living in fear, many with doubts, and many feeding those doubts and fears. This virus is serious, as is any other sickness and disease and we need to take it seriously as it is causing death, anxiety, destroying lives, and stealing our resources and economy. Personally, it sickens me when I hear of death and sickness no matter what it is. It reminds me how precious life is, why we are here and why Jesus Christ came to the earth. Jesus came that we may have life and life more abundantly and that we would not have a spirit of fear, but of love, peace and sound mind.  I see many extending hands of love through giving and stepping up offering helpful advice, a helping hand, a glimpse of hope. I applaud all those that are helping and loving people in this time, doing all that they can, especially those that are on the front lines, in the hospitals and putting their lives at risk to help others. The scripture states “13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 

We as believers need to combat this spirit of fear and this evil virus that was sent to steal, kill and destroy with the weapons of our warfare. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 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,  and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” Our fight is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of this world. Our faith in Jesus Christ is the most powerful weapon we have. It allows us to do things that only our Heavenly Father could do, that He sent Jesus do, and was passed onto us. “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.” Without faith in Christ we have nothing, it is by His example and believing in Him that His power has been passed to us. He sent His Holy Spirit to guide us. ”However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Our faith is what changes things, the words we speak into the atmosphere create the atmosphere that we live in. We allow the loudest voices to speak into the atmosphere; negativity, fear and things that are against our Father’s will. Christians should be the loudest voice, the biggest voice, the voice of truth, speaking His kingdom and His will into the atmosphere; life, love, healing, protection, peace, righteousness, faith, and most importantly Jesus Christ. Each one of us has our own part to play. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”  But we are all to have faith. “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” And without faith it is impossible to please God. By faith the dead are raised, by faith the blind see, by faith the lame walk, by faith we have eternal life, by faith demons are cast out, by faith sickness and disease are healed, by faith mountains can be removed; but this can only be done by prayer and fasting.

We as believer’s need to start exercising our faith more, we need to come to a unity in our faith that we are not sending mixed messages to the world, where some believe this mountain can be cast out to the sea and others that we must go up and over the mountain enduring all of the evil that is thrown at us. Understanding that all are at different places in our faith. We have to reach higher and challenge ourselves in our faith to do things that are outside of our comfort zone. Like anything that we learn, without challenging ourselves to go to the next level we become stagnant, unable to accomplish a task if we don’t reach for the goal. The struggles that we face in our faith His word can overcome. Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of God. You are tested at times and those tests don’t require physical action to overcome but spiritual. If we seek first the kingdom of God the rest will be given. We need to show our faith by our works. We do things as the Spirit guides us, no matter how difficult they may seem. We know that this is what God wants us to do. If we believe something then we need to act on it. If we believe in His power, we need to act as if we truly do and not side step until we get through. It’s time for us to put our faith to our works and let Him lead us to the Kingdom, here on earth just as it is in Heaven.

Here are just some scriptures that I pulled on faith and how Jesus responds to those with and without. It is interesting how all of the miracles that happened, happened by faith. And things that did not happen, though they should have, did not because of lack of faith. We can, let me rephrase, we need to apply this to our everyday life. The past is in the past and we cannot change that but we can learn from where we went wrong, where we strayed, where we fell short. Give it to Jesus and move forward, changed by His grace and glory.

Let’s pray!

Father, all praise and glory to you, we give ourselves to you. I know that I have fallen short and have much room to grow but your grace abounds and you are with me. You will never leave me or forsake me. Forgive me where I have fallen short and increase my faith to remove this mountain in front of me. Lord test my faith, strengthen my faith and lead me to the secret place of the Most High. Help me to see what I thought was a challenge, to be a testimony of faith as I move to the other side, the promised land! You are a faithful God, a jealous God, that desires me and loves me. Release your Spirit into my heart as I read your word and seek your face to see You and understand You the way You want me to. I open my heart to you, increase my faith, increase my love and help me to walk as You walk, speak as You speak, and see how You see! In the mighty name of Jesus, amen!    

Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” And their eyes were opened.

The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 

When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”

He saw her. He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.”

He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10 said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.

Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your [a]unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Luke 18:7-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”

“The just shall live by faith.”

He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.