The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part VI)

(Mark 5:22-24 NIV) Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

Last week I introduced you to a man named Jairus who was dealing with an extremely stressful situation: his daughter was exceedingly sick. Jairus swallowed his pride, approached Jesus, explained the gravity of the situation, and spoke faith-filled words saying: "Come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live."

There are two things I need to highlight from Jairus' declaration. First, Jairus' faith level was at the point where he required Jesus to come to his house and lay His hands on his daughter so that he could be healed. We know from other occasions that Jesus could have simply spoken a word of healing and His words could have healed Jairus' daughter. But Jairus' faith could not take him leaving the scene with just Jesus' words. Jairus required Jesus to come and Jesus obliged his request of faith.

Secondly, it's interesting to me that Jairus included the words, "and live" at the end of his declaration. A person who is sick needs to be healed. A person who is dead needs to be brought back to life. These are two distinct miracles and Jesus was capable of performing both. I believe it's worth nothing that Jairus included both in his petition. It's almost as if he knew that his daughter might be dead by the time the get home. So he included a petition for LIFE in his petition for HEALTH.

This should serve as a reminder to all of us that while the Father knows what we need before we ask (Mat 6:8), He still requires us to ask. James said, "Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it" (4:2). So I don't know if it was intuition of revelation, but Jairus included an important clause in his petition and as you know, his daughter did die before they reached the house.

Faith-filled words for life (and not just health) notwithstanding, the bottom-line is that Jairus, like any father, was shocked when he heard the news that his daughter was dead. Fear flooded his body. Daddy's little girl, his little 12-year-old source of joy was now dead. Sure, he and Jesus were on the way, but there is no question that thoughts of fear, doubt, and unbelief caused him to question whether or not Jesus needed to come any further. As a matter of fact the messengers who came to bring Jairus the bad news actually said, "Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher any more?"
Did you catch that? Our opponent is a crafty devil. The devil understands faith. Satan knew that Jairus' faith level wasn't at the point where Jesus could have simply spoken life from where they were standing and he also knew that Jesus was still operating off of the last words that Jairus had spoken, when he said, "Come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." Guess what? Those words were still good. That petition was still in order. Jesus was not moved by the bad news at all. Actually Jesus ignored the bad news and said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe." Jesus wasn't giving up, but the devil was hoping that Jairus would tell Him to, because if Jairus had told Jesus to quit and not come to his house, then Jesus would not have forced himself onto the situation. We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. Be specific when you pray and ask in-faith.
2. Don't allow what you see, especially the negative, to change what you say!
3. Faith cancels out fear, but fear cancels out faith. Never speak words of fear, because they will cancel out your words of faith!
3. If you can't speak faith, then keep your mouth shut! That's what Jairus did and he got his breakthrough!

Father, I thank You for this revelation. I look at every situation through the lens of faith, I speak the language of faith, and I live a life of faith. I know that I have an adversary and that he will do his best to offer opposition to the things that You want to do in my life, but I declare that even when opposition comes, that I will not allow what I see to change what I say. I won't allow words of fear to come out of my mouth. I will speak the Word only. I will speak faith only. I will speak life only! Now matter how bad it gets, I will speak life! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part V)

(Mark 5:22-24 NIV) Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

We have been dealing with Jairus all week and this story will take us into next week. I don't know if you can tell, but I love the Word, I love these stories, and I love reading about how Jesus lived His life. So there they were. Jairus had already fallen at Jesus' feet and made his declaration of faith, Jesus had already agreed to go to his house and to lay hands on his daughter so that she would be healed and live, and they all (Jesus, Jairus, the disciples, and the crowd) took off towards Jairus' house. I can imagine the scene and I can imagine what was going through Jairus' head. If it were me I would be thinking, "Wow, I did it. I got Jesus to come with me and now my little girl is going to be all right. We just need to hurry up and get home so that this ordeal can be over."

I am sure Jairus' emotions were going haywire between the excitement of the anticipation of the healing and the stress of all he had been through to that point. These are the types of emotions that we often deal with in the space between the prayer and the performance. If we are not careful we will allow the stress of the situation to get the best of us and if that happens we might give up on our prayer. And that's exactly what the enemy wants us to do.

Because of the urgency of the situation and because Jairus was leading them to the house, I am sure this was no leisurely stroll; they were probably walking at a good pace when all off a sudden Jesus stopped, looked around and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" The disciples were baffled by the question. They answered: "What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you're asking, 'Who touched me?' Dozens have touched you!" But Jesus went on asking and looking around to see who had done it. You know who did it, because you already know about the woman with the issue of blood. The woman, knowing what had happened, fell at His feet and gave Him the whole story. There is no telling how long this took. While we can all respect this woman's right to give her testimony, in the wings was man who was running out of time. The more the woman talked the more Jairus (humanly speaking) wanted her to shut up. I am sure he appreciated the gravity of this woman's situation, but I am equally sure that he was still consumed with the gravity of his. While Jesus was finally wrapping up His conversation with the woman some messengers came Jairus' house and said, "Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher any more?" Oh no! That's exactly what Jairus feared would happen. What a blow! Every negative emotion imaginable to man probably flooded his body. But while Jairus was standing there, in this state of shock and pain, Jesus said, "Don't be afraid; just believe." In other words, "Don't allow fear to cancel out your faith; just keep on believing and your daughter will be all right!" We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you ? It means that your faith will be tested. Don't think that you will pray something one minute and you will see the manifestation of it the next, without any opposition. We do have an enemy and he knows that he cannot stop God and he actually cannot stop us when we are in-faith, but he also knows that if he can get us frustrated and in-fear that we wind up stopping ourselves. I will further elaborate on this next week. No matter how hot the enemy turns the heat up, you must refuse to give up on your faith, because in due season you shall reap, if you don't give up! (Gal 6:9).

Father, I thank You for not giving up on me and I declare, by faith, that I shall not give up on You. I will not loose the grip I have on my faith and I shall not throw away my confidence, even if the situation gets worse before it gets better and even if the enemy turns the heat up on me. The enemy knows that the only way he can beat me is if I give up and I am learning that now. Equipped with this revelation I am determined to never give up, to never throw in the towel, to never relax my anticipation of the manifestation of Your promises in my life. I rule over my emotions and I refuse to allow my emotions to cause me to give up on my prayers. I remain in faith, no matter how long it takes, and I shall see Your best come to pass in my life! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part IV)

(Mark 5:22-24 NIV) Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

We have been dealing with Jairus for a few days now and yesterday I focused in on Jairus' declaration of faith. When Jairus spoke faith-filled words - when he said, "Come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live" - it caused Jesus to move. Jesus agreed to meet Jairus at the level of his faith and He started out towards Jairus' house. Now, I have already explained how Jairus had to get past what his friends would think, get past the embarrassment of having to come to Jesus in front of the crowd, and speak words of faith, but let me tell you that that was the easy part.

When you have an issue it's not hard to fall on your knees and pray. It might take some humility, but praying is not the hard part. The hard part comes afterwards, in the space between your prayer and the performance, in the space between your confession and the completion, in the space between "I believe I receive, Amen" and "There it is!" That's the challenge, because in the space between the prayer and the performance, the devil will attempt to cause problems. In the space between the confession and the completion the devil will attempt to stir up confusion. It's in that space that we must remain in faith and patient.

I call Faith and Patience "The Power Twins" for the believer. We need both! Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac (his promised child), Joseph waited over 20 years for the manifestation of his dream, Caleb waited 45 years for his mountain, and the list can go on and on. Getting the promise, and getting excited about it, is one thing, but remaining IN FAITH until the manifestation of it is quite something else.

The writer of Hebrews said, "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised" (6:12). The Greek word used for patience here does not mean to simply wait, but means to remain the same while you wait, it can actually be translated as the force of consistency. If you have faith without patience you will get excited about things, you will speak the language of faith, and you will get your hopes up, but you will eventually have a faith-failure because you won't be able to endure long enough to see the manifestation of it.

If you have patience without faith, you will be able to endure, but that's all you will do. You will endure and endure and endure, and suffer and suffer and suffer, and you will never have the faith to move God to change your situation. Faith without patience produces people who get excited but then fizzle out. Patience without faith produces people who suffer and never have any hope of a breakthrough. But as a believer we NEED both! When you couple faith and patience together you get someone who is able to stand in faith and to stand long enough to SEE the manifestation of what they are believing God for! Is that a picture of you? I hope it is.

So what does this mean to you ? It means that you need both faith and patience to receive the promises of God; to experience God's best. We will see that Jairus' situation got much worse (she actually died) before it got better and he required the patience (the force of consistency) to remain in faith long enough to see his little girl resurrected from the dead.

Do you have faith and patience (The Power Twins) operating in your life?

Father, I declare, by faith, that I will not settle for anything less than the manifestation of Your promises in my life. Once I receive a promise in my spirit, either from Your Word or Your voice, I resolve to operate in faith and patience until the promise is a reality in my life. I will not allow the enemy to cause me to change my confession and I will not allow what I see - even if it gets worse before it gets better - to change what I say. The devil has no place in me, no power over me, and no unsettled claims against me. So he can't stifle my faith with suggestions of condemnation. I have been forgiven, I am in faith, I have patience, and I will HOLD ON until I see You best in my life! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part III)

Today's Word


(Mark 5:22-24 NIV) Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

have been dealing with Jairus for a few days now and yesterday I highlighted the fact that Jairus moved Jesus to action by speaking faith-filled words. I have actually done quite a bit of teach on the importance of our words. Here are a few links to the following series that I pray will bless you: "The Message in Your Mouth," "Mastering Your Mouth," and "The Revelation of Your Confession."

In yesterday's message I made this statement: "The woman, the centurion, and Jairus all spoke faith-filled words and in each case they received EXACTLY what they said!" By now you know the woman pretty well and you are getting to know Jairus, but le me tell you a little about the Centurion.

A Centurion was a Roman military officer who was in charge of 100 soldiers. The underlying force of the Centurion's faith was his understanding of authority. He understood that the people he had authority over had to submit to him. If he said, "go," people went. If he said, "do," people did. He was not Jew, so he probably did not know the scriptures, but he did understand authority. He understood that anyone who has authority over something can simply speak; and whatever/whomever he has authority over has to submit to the command.

The Centurion perceived that Jesus had authority over sickness. So when Jesus offered to go to his house to heal his servant the Centurion replied, "Oh, no Sir, you don't need to go to my house, I don't want bother you that long. Just give the order and my servant will be healed" (my version). The King James Version says, "Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed." How did Jesus respond? Jesus was amazed by his faith and said, "You may go home now. Your faith has made it happen." Right then his servant was healed.

Your words are an indicator of the condition of your heart. When you speak words of faith they become what you receive. Not because the words alone are doing anything, but because the words are coupled with the condition of your heart. Jesus said, "Your words show what's in your heart" (Luke 6:45). Conversely, when you speak words of fear, doubt, and unbelief, they become what you receive, for the same reasons. And this is a key point for someone who is stressed-out, because people who are under the weight and pressure of negative stress may not even realize what they are saying and how detrimental their negative speech may be. Without realizing it their negative words may be keeping them in their situation longer.

Jairus however, acknowledged the fact that his daughter was dying, but he turned right around and spoke words of faith and his faith (expressed through words) caused Jesus to move. We can all learn from this.

So what does this mean to you? It means that you should not underestimate the power of words. You release a message every time you open your mouth and you should be cognizant of what messages you are releasing. Your words can either release faith or fear and the enemy will turn up the heat on you every time you speak faith. His hope is that the heat will make you buckle under the pressure. We will see in this story that the pressure was turned up on Jairus. But your God is bigger than the heat! Don't allow what you see to change what you say!

Father, I realize how important my words are and I declare, by faith, that I will speak faith-filled words today and every day of my life. I am cognizant of everything that comes out of my mouth and I watch my tongue to ensure that I am saying what I want to happen. I also fill my heart with good things. I read Your Word and as Your Word comes through my eyes it gets down into my heart. I listen to Your Word and as Your Word comes through my ears it gets down into my heart. As my heart is filled with Your Word what is in me will begin to come out of me and I will speak the Word of faith in every situation. I saturate myself in You, in Your presence, and in Your Word. I am a believer and not a doubter and my words let everyone know that I am a person of faith! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part II)

Today's Word


(Mark 5:22-24 NIV) Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

Yesterday I introduced you to Jairus. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He was a man of prominence, power, and position in the community. But Jairus encountered a problem that he had no power over; he faced a challenge that was bigger than his position. What do you do when you face something you have no power over? What do you do when you are a person of prominence and position, but you face an issue that extends beyond your realm of influence? And this was no ordinary challenge.

Jairus daughter, his 12-year-old 'baby girl,' was sick; and she was not mildly sick, she was at the point of death. Daddy's little girl was about to die. If that does not cause stress, I don't know what does. To make a bad situation even worse, the one man who represented hope for his daughter was despised by his friends and co-workers. The only man who could help his daughter was public enemy #1 within his inner circle. Making a break for Jesus also meant making a break from his social circle. But Jairus had no other choice. Jesus was not only his best option, He was his ONLY option. So with that in mind he showed up at the seashore. I am sure people in the crowd recognized him and questioned within themselves what he was doing there.

The people were probably thinking was Jairus there to spy on Jesus? Was he sent there by the religious leadership to follow Jesus around? Was Jairus there to cause a scene and interrupt Jesus' ministry? Well, all those questions were answered as Jesus arrived. When Jairus started walking towards Jesus I am sure some in the crowd expected something quite different to happen. I can just imagine the surprise on their faces when Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, fell at Jesus' feet and asked Him for help. Jairus swallowed his pride in order to get his breakthrough!

Okay, now we understand all he had to get past to get to Jesus. Got it! But now Jairus is there. He is on the ground with his face at Jesus' feet. It's safe to say that he has Jesus' attention by this point. He has gotten past the embarrassment of the situation and he is ignoring the people who are staring at him. But now what? What is Jairus going to say that is going to get Jesus to intervene in his situation? What words could move Jesus to action?

If we learned anything from the woman with the issue of blood is was that FAITH MOVES GOD! In her case her faith actually STOPPED GOD in His tracks. The woman's words of faith were backed up with her action of faith, and her touch of faith loosed the power of God to heal her body. That's it! All Jairus had to do was speak the language of faith. If there is anything that got Jesus' juices going, it was faith.

One time Jesus encountered a centurion who had SO MUCH faith that he did not even need to SEE Jesus heal his servant, all he needed Jesus to do was to SAY IT! Jesus was blown away by his faith, He SAID IT, and the man's servant was healed from that moment. Now, Jairus was not at that level in his faith, but he did say this: "Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you ? It means that the best thing you can do when you are in a stressful situation is to speak your desired outcome, in faith, fully believing, not doubting in your heart, and your words of faith will activate God to move on your behalf. The woman, the centurion, and Jairus all spoke faith-filled words and in each case they received EXACTLY what they said! I will break this down further tomorrow.

Father, I know that faith pleases You, fear disappoints You, and doubt frustrates You. With that in mind I declare that I will speak the language of faith every day of my life. I will look at every situation through the lens of faith. Even now, even with all the challenges I may be facing, I see myself overcoming them ALL by faith. You have made me more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. I CAN do all things through the grace and the power of Christ Jesus and I WILL! I will overcome every challenge I face and when it is all said and done the enemy will regret ever messing with me. The greater the test, the greater the testimony! There is a great testimony waiting for me on the other side of this and I shall get there, I shall experience the victory, and I WILL tell my story everywhere I go! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Story of Jairus and His Dying Daughter (Part I)

Today's Word


(Mark 5:22-24 NIV) Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him.

Since I already introduced you to the woman with the issue of blood, I have decided to introduce you to the man whose house Jesus was enroute to when the woman broke out of her shell and busted into the crowd. As a matter of fact, I will give the context of the entire day. This day was a pretty busy day for Jesus. Jesus began His morning by teaching, in parabolic form, by the seashore of Galilee. After teaching many parables Jesus' disciples pulled Him aside and asked Him for an explanation. They were confused by the stories. After providing the explanation Jesus was led to get into a boat and head to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. While in the boat Jesus took advantage of the opportunity to take a nap (ministry can be hard on the body). While Jesus was napping a tremendous storm erupted, the boat was taking on water, and the disciples thought they were going to die. What was Jesus doing during all of this? He was simply sleeping through the storm (we can learn a lesson from that). The disciples woke Jesus up frantically. Jesus was disappointed by their fear and frustrated by their lack of faith. He simply rebuked the wind and spoke peace to the sea. The wind and sea obeyed His words.

After the storm Jesus and His disciples landed on the coast of Gad, which is where Jesus was led to go. They visited the cemetery where a man who was possessed with a legion of demons was. No one could restrain this man and he was causing all sorts of havoc. Jesus cast the legion of demons out, and just like that (mission accomplished), He was ready to go back to the other side of the sea. Jesus' ministry team got back in the boat and they headed back to the other side.

When they arrived on the opposite seashore a crowd was waiting for Jesus. Although Jesus had already accomplished a great deal in this day His ministry work was not over. The crowd anxiously awaited His return. Some were there because they truly wanted a 'touch' from Jesus, some because they were curious about the miracle worker, and then some were simply there for the fish and the loaves. So the crowd was large, diverse, and ready to see Jesus in action. There is no telling what was going to happen when Jesus was on the scene. So as Jesus came out of the boat and on to the seashore I am sure the anticipation was high when all of a sudden a man busted through the crowd, he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, and he explained how his little daughter was at death's door. As a Mother I can only imagine his pain. He was associated with the religious leadership of he time, but he knew they had no answer for his situation, so he went to the man who posed the greatest threat to his way of life: Jesus the miracle worker; the man whom the Pharisees and Sadducees hated. Jairus had no time to worry about upsetting his friends, his daughter's life was on the line - talk about a stressful situation - and he was willing to do whatever it took to get her breakthrough!

We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. When you truly trust the Father you can have the peace to sleep through any storm.
2. When you commit to fulfilling your life's assignment you will be busy!
3. When you commit to fulfilling your life's assignment you will face opposition.
4. When you truly need a breakthrough you don't worry about what others will think.
5. The best place to take your issue is the feet of Jesus!

Father, I thank You for giving me the grace to fulfill my life's assignment. Whenever I come up against opposition I remind myself that I am an overcomer and I simply 'come over' the obstacle by faith. I refuse to allow anything or anyone to keep me from arriving at Your expected end for my life. I also understand that bad things do happen to good people, so if I face a serious challenge, I declare, by faith, that I will bring that challenge to Your feet. I will cast the care of it over to You and I will do whatever is required of me, in-faith, to bring about my breakthrough. And I will not allow the concern for what others might think to keep me from coming to You. I am NOT ashamed of my relationship with You! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Woman with the Issue of Blood (Part IV)

Today's Word


(Mark 5:25-29 GNB) There was a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years, even though she had been treated by many doctors. She had spent all her money, but instead of getting better she got worse all the time. She had heard about Jesus, so she came in the crowd behind him, saying to herself, "If I just touch his clothes, I will get well." She touched his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once; and she had the feeling inside herself that she was healed of her trouble.

We have dealt with this woman all week long and we will move on to someone else next week. So with that in mind, as I thought/prayed over what my final highlight from this woman's story should be, I decided to re-emphasize her determination. No one would have blamed her for giving up. It would have been understandable under the circumstances.


However, she refused to give up hope, she kept looking for an answer, and she finally found it in Jesus. It is important to note that she did NOT consult with anyone prior to breaking out of her shell and breaking into the crowd.

Why is that important? It is important because when you are about to operate in faith you can only discuss your faith venture with people of 'like precious faith.' If she would have discussed what she was thinking about with one of the religious rulers of the time, then I am pretty sure they would have shot her down. We don't even know if she had anyone around her who had the type of faith that she did. So if she would have ran her plan by someone who did not have her level of faith, she ran the risk of hearing the wrong words - negative words, if believed, can cause a faith-failure!

Some people will always try to talk you out of your dreams. Some will laugh at you, tell you your dreams are foolish, and even try to bring you down to their level.

Monty Roberts, the author of "The man who listens to horses," calls these them "Dream stealers." When Monty was in school he was given an assignment to write his dreams. Monty wrote that he would like to own his own 200-acre ranch and raise Thoroughbred racehorses. His teacher gave him an F on the assignment. Was it because of his grammar? Was it because of his writing style? NO! His teacher gave him an F because he deemed his dream too unrealistic! The teacher was certain that no one living in a camper on the back of a pickup truck would ever be able to accumulate enough money to buy a ranch, horses, and pay the salaries of the ranch hands. This teacher even gave Monty a chance at a higher grade. All Monty had to do was rewrite his paper with a dream that seemed more realistic. So what did Monty do? Did he rewrite the paper? Did he lower his expectations? Did he abort his dream? Absolutely not! Monty told his teacher, "You keep the F; I'm keeping my dream!" Today Monty owns that ranch.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. You must protect your dreams by only sharing them with people of 'like-precious-faith.'
2. If you surround yourself with the right people you will hear the right things; words that will feed your faith and starve your doubt.
3. The devil knows that he can't stop you when you are operating in faith, but he also knows that if he can get you to quit, then you basically stop yourself.
4. Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time you WILL reap a harvest if you do not quit (Gal 6:9). But if you do quit, you will miss your breakthrough and it will not be God's fault.

Father, I thank You for the many examples You have given me in Your Word. I learn by precept and example. The example of the woman with the issue of blood is so clear to me that I am able to identify with her, learn from her, and apply the same type of life-changing faith in my life. I am a believer and not a doubter. I am determined to overcome every challenge set before me. I dream big dreams, in faith, and I only share those dreams with people of faith, who will help fuel my faith and motivate me to go on, even when the opposition is strong. I know that the enemy's #1 goal is to get me to quit, but I won't give him the satisfaction. I shall not quit, I shall not give up, I shall not throw in the towel, I will continue to move forward by faith and I shall reap my harvest because I refuse to release my faith-pressure for a breakthrough! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Woman with the Issue of Blood (Part III)

(Mark 5:25-29 GNB) There was a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years, even though she had been treated by many doctors. She had spent all her money, but instead of getting better she got worse all the time. She had heard about Jesus, so she came in the crowd behind him, saying to herself, "If I just touch his clothes, I will get well." She touched his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once; and she had the feeling inside herself that she was healed of her trouble.

We have been dealing with this woman for a few days now and the more I preach/teach this story the more enamored I am about this woman. Let's take a closer look at what she did to get out of her stressful situation:

1. She Heard: The Bible tells us that "Faith comes by hearing" (Ro 10:17). Many people do not allow their faith to grow, willfully closing themselves off to the things of God, because of the pain of their past. If you want to talk about pain, this woman is the 'poster child.' She was in a terrible condition - physically, emotionally, and socially - but amazingly enough she was willing to remain 'open' to hear about a man who could change her life.

Many people who are scarred, frustrated, and disillusioned with their circumstances close themselves off to the world and to any glimpse of hope. They have been hurt so many times by people claiming to be able to help that they give up completely and resign themselves to their condition. We should all learn from this woman. She had been disappointed time and time again, but she remained open and she was willing to listen, with a believing heart, about a man named Jesus!
If you are in a bad situation this morning you need to make sure you don't close yourself off to God and keep going to church. You need to be connected to a church that is preaching the Gospel and the power of God. The words you hear from the pulpit may be exactly what you need to hear to help get you out of your situation, but you must be open to hear the Word, and to hear it with a believing heart!

2. She Believed: I cannot emphasize this enough. Many who are hurt by 'life' become critical of everything they hear. This woman did not hear with a critical ear, she heard with a believing ear, and there is a BIG difference. You must be able to BELIEVE that God can manifest His glory in your situation, because if you don't believe, you will never operate in faith and faith is what is required for your breakthrough! Don't allow the pain of your past to rob you of your future.

3. She made a Faith Confession: The power of death and life is in the tongue (Prov 18:21). Instead of complaining about her past, this woman spoke faith-filled words - speaking her desired outcome instead of her present condition. You, God, and satan all know what your present condition is. Speaking the problem just helps condition your mind to keep you there. But when you have the faith to verbalize the outcome, out loud, unashamedly, then those words of faith help ignite the internal faith you will require to cross over from confession to action! If you have been speaking the problem, over and over again, STOP today! Negative words don't help. Start speaking life - confess the Word over your situation!

4. She Acted in Faith: Wow! She did not just speak a good game; she actually acted upon what she said! This is where most believers fall short. It is one thing to speak life and not death, to speak your desired outcome, to name it and claim it; but when the rubber meets the road and the water hits the wheel, it comes time to Act upon what it is that we have spoken. We will get deeper into this tomorrow, but suffice is to say that she broke out of her shell and broke into the crowd to get to Jesus and touch His clothes - just like she said she could and would!

Father, I thank You for this revelation. I declare, by faith, that I am open to hear whatever You desire to say to me today. You speak to me through Your Word, Your Spirit, in prayer, and through others. My ears are anointed to hear what You desire to say to me and I refuse to sacrifice my future because of the pain of my past. Not only do I hear, but I hear with a believing heart. I am a believer and not a doubter. I believe You can do all things and I also believe that all things are possible for me! I declare my expected end, by faith, in accordance with Your Word, and I believe that I will have what I say. But I also know that I must add action to my words. Not only do I have faith in my lips, but I also have faith in my legs and I am prepared to DO whatever is required of me to bring to pass Your best for my life! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Woman with the Issue of Blood (Part II)

(Mark 5:25-29 GNB) There was a woman who had suffered terribly from severe bleeding for twelve years, even though she had been treated by many doctors. She had spent all her money, but instead of getting better she got worse all the time. She had heard about Jesus, so she came in the crowd behind him, saying to herself, "If I just touch his clothes, I will get well." She touched his cloak, and her bleeding stopped at once; and she had the feeling inside herself that she was healed of her trouble.

Yesterday I introduced you to a woman whose menstrual cycle had been stuck in the "on" position for 12 long years. We are talking about 624 weeks, 4,380 days, and over 6 million minutes. Think about how you would feel, physically, if you had been bleeding for 60 minutes straight or maybe even a couple of hours. I have been thought that personally and I can honestly say that it is truly horrible. I am no doctor but I would assume that 6 million straight minutes of hemorrhaging would have to leave anyone physically debilitated. And then when you add the social, psychological, and financial ramifications of her condition to the situation, it's an understatement to say that this woman was in BIG trouble. In my case I needed emergency surgery to correct the problem along with many, many pints of blood. For weeks upon weeks I was extremely weak. For this woman she needed a breakthrough in a bad way.

I am sure that many of you today can identify with her; maybe not with her physical condition, but with the gravity of her overall plight. So let's learn from what she did.

She was Financially broke, physically bleeding, and psychologically bruised, but she somehow managed to muster up enough hope to believe that Jesus was answer and enough faith to declare: "If I just touch his clothes, I will get well." She did not sit back and complain about her situation. She saw an opportunity for a breakthrough and she went for it. And if her audacity to believe and her faith-filled words were not enough, she actually had the courage to DO IT! Recently I taught my life group about praying audaciously and I truly believe that is exactly what this woman was doing.


She busted through the crowd, touched Jesus' garment, and immediately the bleeding stopped - just like she said! She knew it right away. She felt in her body that she was healed from that moment. Now it could not have been the method, because multiple people from the crowd were pushing on, grabbing at, and touching Jesus. He was being touched from every angle. But this dysfunctional, disregarded, and dismissed woman with a bleeding condition touched Him like no one else.

Why? Because her touch was connected to her faith and her faith loosed God's power. Faith moves God. Jesus stopped because He felt power leave His body. He knew someone had 'tapped in.' Jesus looked around and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" The disciples were baffled by the question. They answered: "What are you talking about? With this crowd pushing and jostling you, you're asking, 'Who touched me?' Dozens have touched you!" But Jesus went on asking and looking around to see who had done it. The woman, knowing what had happened, knowing she was the one, stepped up in fear and trembling, knelt before Him, and gave Him the whole story. We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. Don't dwell on the past. It would have been very easy for this woman to wallow in pity, but she kept looking for a way out of her situation. She tried the doctors, she tried her religion, and then she tried Jesus. And that's the point, she kept on trying, she never gave up, and she kept moving forward! A 'forward-ever, backward-never' mentality goes a long way!

2. Expand your capacity to believe God. Do you truly believe? This woman did. She believed for a breakthrough when all human hope was gone and her belief opened the door to her faith. You will never get to the faith stage if you can't get past the belief stage!

3. Speak faith-filled words. The language of faith speaks its desired outcome. That's exactly what this woman did and her faith fueled the action required for her breakthrough. Nursing and rehearing the situation will never change it. Speak what you want, not what you have!

Father, I expand my capacity to believe You this morning. I remind myself that there is nothing You cannot do. I believe in a God of no-limits and I remove every artificial limit I have placed on my limitless God. I believe You can and I have the faith to believe that You will. My belief opens the door to my faith. My faith urges me to speak faith-filled words over my situation and I will start today. I will speak my desired outcome, in faith, in accordance with Your Word, being fully persuaded that You can and will manifest Your glory in my life. I am looking forward, not backward, and I am looking at my future through the lens of faith, speaking the language of faith every step of the way! In Jesus' name. Amen!

The Woman with the Issue of Blood (Part I)

(Mark 5:25-29 NLT) A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. For she thought to herself, "If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed." Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.

This week I introduce you to another Biblical character who was under a tremendous amount of negative stress. We don't know her name and most preachers simply call her by her issue, naming her "The woman with the issue of blood," because that is how the traditional King James Version describes her. To understand her stress we must first understand what the "issue" was. Basically, one day her menstrual cycle started and it never stopped. To have your menstrual stuck in the "on" position would be bad enough today, but back then the situation was exponentially worse because of the legal parameters of her condition. The Levitical Law stated that a woman was "unclean" during her menstrual cycle; meaning that she could not have the normal physical interactions she could during the rest of the month. Since this woman's cycle never stopped, it caused her to stay away from everyone while she was in her condition and it basically made her a prisoner in her own body (see Lev 15:19-31).

Identify with her for a moment. Physically she was drained, emotionally she was spent, and socially she was an outcast. If that were not bad enough, the Bible says that she had spent her life's savings on doctors and did not get any better. In fact, she had gotten worse. So there she was: financially broke, physically bleeding, psychologically hurting, and socially enclosed.

The religious system of the time made her limitations clear to her, but it provided no alternative to her life of despair. By all accounts she was a good candidate for giving up hope. If anyone (humanly speaking) had the right to throw in the towel and just give up, she did. If it was understandable for anyone to succumb to the pressures of the stress, she was the one. No one would have blamed her if she had 'lost it.' It seemed as though life had dealt her a bad hand and her religion had no answer. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were sticklers for the Law, but they had no miracle working power. Her situation was extremely dire and it seemed like she had no way out... but wait, that's when she heard about Jesus! She heard about a man that was going about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38). I am not sure what she heard or how she heard it, but whatever she heard, it gave her hope! We will stop here for today.

So what does this mean to you? It means that one encounter with God can change your life forever. I am not a big advocate of preaching "one touch" or "one encounter" type messages, because it draws people that only want to get something from God and not have a true relationship with God. But whether I am an advocate or not, the truth is that one encounter with God can change your life forever. This woman had tried everything else and she now believed that one encounter with Jesus could stop her bleeding and restore her to health.

She had the audacity to believe in a God she could not see, through a man (Jesus) she did not know, and she received her breakthrough. What are you able to believe? If you can believe it you become a candidate to receive it.

Father, no matter how bad of a situation I find myself in, I know that one touch, one word, or one encounter with You can turn it around. There is nothing too hard for You! There is nothing that You cannot do! Your hands are not too short that You cannot reach me. You power is not too weak that You cannot provide a breakthrough and a breakout! I am never hopeless, because You have committed to be with me always... never to leave me or forsake me. Since You are always with me, I am never helpless. Since I am never helpless, I am never hopeless. My hope is in You and I believe You can meet me today, right where I am, and You can manifest Your glory in such a way that You will help me to get to where You want me to be! I know You can and I believe You will! In Jesus' name. Amen!

I Shall Not Be MOVED

(Psalm 125:1,2 NIV) Those who trust in theLORDare like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so theLORDsurrounds his people both now and forevermore.

All week long we dealt with a passage in which Jesus urged His disciples NOT to allow their emotions to get the best of them. Jesus was teaching them that they had the power to rule over their emotions. Any believer who is overly emotional is going to have a hard time maximizing their purpose and potential because overly emotional people have a tendency to be unstable and oftentimes insecure. I have been dealing with this personally since I began writing this message.

If we let our emotions have their way they will emote on a regular basis and we will never operate with the level of stability, security, and focus the Father desires for us operate with. Once your emotions take over it's only a matter of time before worry sets in, because you will begin to focus on the wrong things. Remember, worry is a negative form of meditation and while you are worrying you are proving to the Father that you do not trust Him - you cannot trust and worry at the same time.

The psalmist tells us that those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. What do we know about Mount Zion? Well, one thing we know for sure is that it cannot be moved; it's not going anywhere. Our translation tells us that it can't even be shaken. In other words, those who have their trust firmly established in the Lord - which also comes by meditation, but meditation in the Word of God, instead of the negative meditation which leads to worry - are like a rock which cannot be moved, shaken, or stirred.

When we firmly trust in the Father (in His provision, protection, power, and peace) we can get to the point where we are fixed, focused, and in-faith so strong that the enemy cannot move us with his suggestions of doubt, fear, and failure. This is the place we want to be. This is the way we want to live. This is the life we want to have. And this is the picture the psalmist paints as possible when we truly trust in the Lord.

The psalmist then takes his picture to another level. In addition to helping us develop an image of us being like a mountain, which cannot be moved, the psalmist then paints another picture (in verse two) for us of the Lord Himself and this time the Lord is an entire mountain range. The Jewish readers of the time would definitely be familiar with the mountains that surrounded Jerusalem. Jerusalem was in a mountainous region and the city itself was surrounded by mountains. The picture the writer paints is that of the Lord, who like a mountain Himself cannot be moved, surrounding us with His wall of impenetrable protection. So not only can we be like a mountain (strong, stable, and secure), but the immutable God Himself is our protection and He is protecting us on every side. The devil, nor any demon, nor any demonic influence can penetrate the mountain of protection the LORD Himself can establish for us when we trust in Him!

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. When we truly trust in the Lord we can be like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved.
2. When we truly trust in the Lord, the Lord Himself will establish and impenetrable hedge of protection.
3. If we are fixed and focused in faith, and we also know that the Lord Himself is our protection, then we don't have anything to stress-out about.
4. If we do our part, and the Lord does His part, the devil can try all he wants, but he will never be successful against us. The key is making sure we do our part: which is faith and trust!

Father, I thank You for the image You inspired the psalmist to write, I have read it hundreds of years later, and it is still effective. I see myself as strong, stable, and secure as Mount Zion. I declare, by faith, that I shall not be moved by anything that comes my way. I am fixed and focused in faith, I stand on Your promises, and my trust is firmly established. Fear, doubt, unbelief or worry have no power over me, nor any place in my life. I am a believer and I see myself as unmovable by faith. Further, I also see You as a mountain of protection that is all around me and no devil, demon, nor demonic influence can get to me, because You have established a hedge that keeps me on every side. Since I live this way, with this mindset, and with this outlook, negative stress has no place in my life! In Jesus' name. Amen!

God will ALLOW whatever you ALLOW (Part IV)

(John 14:27 AMP) Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

We have been dealing with this passage for a few days now and I have a release to move on to something else, but before I do I want to emphasis the title of this mini-series within this series: God will allow whatever you allow. I run into far too many believers who either blame satan, God, or others for everything that happens to them; conveniently omitting themselves from the blame line, as if their decisions had nothing to do with their condition. I taught a message once entitled, "Making Wise Decisions." In the message I focused on Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam had it all and he lost it all because of a foolish decision on his part. God had given him:

1. Purpose: Adam was to work and take care of the garden. Adam had a purpose, he had something to do.
2. Provision: God made sure that all of Adam's needs were met. Adam's only need to this point was food and God gave him an entire garden (more like a forest) of fruit bearing trees to eat from.
3. Parameters: Provision is dangerous without parameters. God told Adam that he could eat from every tree except one. This gave Adam the power of choice. Right or wrong, good or bad, the choice was going to be his to make.
4. Power: With everything in place, the Lord brought Adam all the beasts of the field and birds of the air and God let Adam "choose" whatever he was going to name them. Whatever he named them that would be their name. In other words, God gave Adam the power to define.
5. Partnership: After Adam started naming the animals he developed another need; a need for a partner. He was all alone. God made Eve from out of Adam and brought her to Adam. This was a wonderful relationship. Adam now had a relationship with God and a thriving relationship with another human.

Was it God's will for Adam to get kicked out of the Garden? Absolutely not! But did Adam get kicked out? Why? Because Adam chose to disobey God. Now, when Adam had the fruit in his hand did God knock it out? No! Did God intervene and stop him from messing his life up? No! Why? Because God will allow whatever we allow. God did not make Adam do it, but He did not stop him either. In the passage we have been dealing with Jesus did not make the disciples accept the grief, but He did not stop it either. Jesus simply highlighted to them that they had the power to stop the grief, just like they had the power to allow it in, in the first place.

So what does this mean to you? It means that you must take responsibility for your own decisions and stop blaming God, satan, or others for everything that happens to you. Ask yourself: "What role have I played in my life what it is today?" If you would be honest you would recognize the fact that you had a significant role in getting you where you are today. God is there to help you, and He loves you, but He will not forcefully stop you from making a mistake. And when you do, don't blame Him, because if you had listened to Him you would have never made the mistake in the first place.

So how does this deal with stress? Some of the stress we experience is simply due to our decision to stress-out about things. Don't carry the care, 'cast it' over to God and watch Him remove the weight you have been carrying far too long!

Father, I thank You for helping me to realize the importance of my own decisions. I know You love me, I know You want nothing but Your best for my life, and I know You will do all You can to keep me from making poor decisions, but when I do, when I ignore Your Spirit, Your counsel, and Your Word, and I make poor decisions on my own volition, I know I will have to deal with the consequences of those decisions. So what I declare today, by faith, is that my ears are carefully tuned-in to Your voice, my decision making matrix in firmly rooted in Your Word, and the decisions that I make will be decisions that are pleasing in Your sight and that will bring glory to Your name! And one of the best decisions I will ever make is to refuse to stress out over things I should simply 'cast over' to You! In Jesus' name. Amen!

God will ALLOW whatever you ALLOW (Part III)

(John 14:27 AMP) Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

We have been dealing with this passage for a couple of days now and I think we can all identify with the distressing anxiety the disciples were facing at the thought of being separated from Jesus. Jesus' answer to their stress was simple, He said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me" (John 14:1).

In other words, "You are allowing yourselves to be overcome with grief and just like you have the power to allow the grief to come in, you also have the power to resist it and push it out." God is a tripartite being (Father, Son, and Spirit) and so are we (Spirit, Soul, and Body). You and I are spirits (that's who we really are), we possess a soul (our mind, emotions, and will), and we live in a body. Since your spirit is who you really are, then your spirit can actually tell your soul (where your emotions reside) how to feel. We have learned thus far that we can either allow our emotions to rule over us or we can rule over them. Believe me, I have tried both and the latter is much better. That is basically what Jesus was teaching.

Yesterday we covered the fact that Jesus reassured them by promising to provide another comforter, the Holy Spirit Himself, to reside IN them. While Jesus was in the earth God Himself was WITH them, but after Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection the Holy Spirit would be given and they could then have God Himself IN them. This promise of an indwelling of God's presence seemed to do little to calm their angst. So in verse 27 Jesus basically repeats what He said in verse 1, but this time with a promise of giving them His peace.

Notice that Jesus differentiates this peace from the peace we can receive from the world. The world defines peace as: freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, or anxiety; a state of tranquility or serenity. But as a believer we can have peace even in the midst of these things. We can have complete peace in the midst of annoyances; we can be settled in the peace of God even with distractions all around us. Why? Because for us, peace is not about the absence of conflict, but rather about the presence of God.

Instead of taking away the distressing anxiety, instead of laying hands on them and commanding the stress to leave, Jesus took another route and opted to give them His peace. This is significant because what most people want is for God to take away all the things that are causing them stress, and Jesus shows us here that God sometimes gives us what we need to deal with, and conquer the situations, instead of being delivering from them.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. God is not always going to deliver you FROM challenges, but He will give you what you need to conquer them-delivering you IN it, rather than FROM it. Remember, you cannot be an overcomer if you never have anything to come over!
2. The peace of God is not about the absence of conflict, but rather about the presence of God.
3. Don't let your feelings tell you how to feel.
4. You can have peace internally, even when everything externally seems to be going haywire.

Father, I thank You for this teaching and I thank You for Your peace! Your peace comes as a result of Your presence. I have accepted Jesus as my Lord and Your Spirit lives in me every second of every day. Your presence in me gives me what I need to face whatever challenges arise in my life. I will not allow external challenges to disturb my internal peace. When situations arise that I have to come over, I declare, by faith, that I will overcome them. I am a believer and not a doubter. I walk by faith and not by fear. I am the victor and not the victim. You are IN me, ON me, WITH me, and FOR me, who can be against me? Not only do I win the external fight, but I win the internal one as well. Negative stress has no power over me! In Jesus' name. Amen!

God will ALLOW whatever you ALLOW (Part II)

(John 14:27 AMP) Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

Yesterday I introduced you to this passage, where Jesus is preparing His disciples for His impending departure (i.e. death, burial, and resurrection). The disciples were obviously disquieted by the mere thought of life without Jesus and their frustrations were expressed through the always outspoken Peter. To calm their cares Jesus did not perform any miracle, He did not lay hands on the disciples, He did not setup a prayer line, nor did He teach/preach a long lesson/sermon. All Jesus said was: "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me" (John 14:1). That's it!

With that statement Jesus was acknowledging the fact that the disciples were stressed, troubled, and perplexed, but He was also acknowledging the fact that they did not need to be. Faith is a choice, just like fear is a choice. Trust is a choice, just like worry is a choice. The disciples had allowed their hearts to be troubled. In other words, just like they had the power to allow trouble to enter into their hearts, they also had the power to resist it, to cast it down, to force it out, and to step back over into faith, peace, and trust.

Understanding this is paramount because countless believers give satan too much credit for what goes on in their lives. The disciples' stress was not caused by satan, but rather by their emotions and while it is understandable, the Word of God teaches us how we can rule over our emotions.

Emotional Christians are tossed to and fro by every change of life. Guess what? Life is full of change. You cannot grow without changing and you cannot change without choosing to let go of the 'kung-fu grip' you have on your past.

Jesus was attempting to graduate the disciples to the Holy Spirit stage. In the rest of this chapter He teaches them about the Holy Spirit. In verses 16-20 Jesus said, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

Okay, Jesus was going to have to leave, but what He was offering was actually better. While He was alive in the earth He was external to them, but He was offering THE SAME type of fellowship, relationship, and guidance, but rather internally instead of externally. This conversation goes on for a while. Two chapters later Jesus said, "Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:6,7). Once again, they did not need to be filled with grief, that was their choice.

So what does this mean to you ? A few things:
1. God has given you the power to rule over your emotions, but YOU must do so.

2. If you allow your emotions to rule you, you will live an unstable and possibly unfruitful life.

3. You cannot grow without changing and you will not receive tomorrow holding on to yesterday.

4. Once you accept the change you can overcome the stress and get excited about your future!

Father, I thank You for this teaching. I now realize how I have allowed myself to be frustrated over things that I should have been excited about. Life is full of change, and I cannot grow without changing, so I accept the progressive process of my development in You. I won't allow change the cause negative stress, but what I will do is get excited about what You want to do in my life and as I change, as I grow, as I develop, and as I mature in You, I will become more and more like Jesus in the earth. So that I can boldly declare that as He is, so am I in this world! In
Jesus Name Amen!!

God Will ALLOW what you ALLOW

God will ALLOW whatever you ALLOW

(John 14:27 AMP) Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

All last week we dealt with taking control of your thought life. A few weeks ago we started off this series by teaching on 'the peace of God'. What Jesus said in John chapter 14 allows us to connect the two. In chapter 13 Jesus is fully aware that His death is extremely close. With that in mind He starts to prepare the disciples for His departure. Jesus said, "My children, I will be with you for a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won't find me. I tell you just as I told the people, "You cannot go where I am going."

Ok so It is easy to see how this could disturb the disciples. This is a group of men who walked away from their careers to follow Jesus and they had been following Him for over three years. For three years all they had known was Jesus, His teachings, His ministry, and His actions. His life was their lives, their lives were His life. So it's easy to see how Jesus' seemingly sudden departure could cause consternation.

Simon Peter, the one disciple who was never shy and never short on words, asked, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus had tried to explain this before, but the possibility of Jesus' death and a subsequent resurrection was hard to fathom. Instead of attempting to explain the process Jesus simply answered, "You can't go with me now, but later on you will." Peter was not the type of guy who would accept an answer like that easily. Peter questioned back: "Lord, why can't I go with you now? I would die for you!" The thought of being disconnected from Jesus was obviously causing Peter distressing anxiety. Peter did not want to hear about the possibility of some future reunion; Peter wanted to continue the fellowship he was having with Jesus and I believe it is safe to say that the other disciples felt the same way. I don't fault them for getting upset, for allowing their hearts to be filled with fear, fret, and doubt. This was a BIG DEAL for them and if they sat around thinking about it they would surely 'stress-out.'

Jesus perceived what Peter was feeling and I am sure He sensed the same thing in the hearts of the other disciples. So what would Jesus, the King of Glory, say in a situation like this? What answer could the Lord of Lords provide to the stress their were experiencing? Jesus simply said, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me" (John 14:1). That's it! No laying on of hands, no miraculous power-of-God demonstration, no voice from Heaven, nothing like that.

Jesus knew that they had ALLOWED their hearts to be troubled and He simply told them NOT to do it and to simply trust God and Him. The Greek word used for "troubled" in this verse is a word that means: to cause one inward commotion; to take away calmness of mind; to disquiet; to make restless; to render anxious or distressed; to perplex the mind of one by suggesting doubts. Tomorrow we will pick it up from here and take it to the 27th verse.

So what does this mean to you? A few things:
1. Just like you can ALLOW your heart to be troubled, you have the power to refuse it.
2. Faith is a choice, just like fear is a choice.
3. You cannot trust and worry at the same time, and you get to CHOOSE which one YOU will do.
4. God will allow whatever you allow; He will not override YOUR choice!

Father, I thank You for this revelation. I have given the enemy more credit than he deserves. I have the power to allow myself to be troubled, to be stressed out, and to accept the negative suggestions that lead to fear, doubt, and unbelief. But I also have the power to resist, refuse, and stand against those suggestions. I declare, by faith, that in 2011 I will allow my mind to be reprogrammed, through Your Word, so that I can get to the point where thoughts of fear, failure, doubt, and distress will have a hard time getting in. Instead of ALLOWING the enemy's suggestions to run roughshod through my mind, I will ALLOW Your Word to be the foundation for my life and living! I choose trust and not trouble today! In Jesus' name. Amen!

Thanking Control of your thought life IV

(II Cor 10:3-5 KJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

We have been looking at this passage all week. Yesterday we looked at Abram (aka Abraham) as an example of someone who was able to develop an image of what God wanted them to be, and he was then able to release his faith, along with the corresponding action, in order to bring to make the image a reality. This morning we come back to Paul's teaching and we circle around to the final thought. When I taught you the negative aspect of this verse I explained how negative thoughts create negative images, and if negative images, if unchecked, can create negative strongholds. We looked at all three aspects - thoughts, images, and strongholds - from the negative, but to this point we have only looked at two of the three on the positive side. I have yet to discuss the "stronghold" portion, so we will address it this morning as we close out the week.

If it is true (and it is) that negative thoughts and images can eventually produce a stronghold (walled cities) that will make it difficult for Godly and positive thoughts to make it into the forefront of the arena of our mind, then the opposite must also be true. Pure thoughts and righteous images, over the process of time, will not only lead to Godly actions that will produce Godly results - making our way prosperous so that we can enjoy good success (see Joshua 1:8) - but they will eventually produce a similar situation to the negative stronghold.

In other words, if we meditate on the Word long enough we can actually find ourselves living in a walled city, but not a city of sin, stress, and frustration; a city of blessing, peace, and Godly prosperity. Once you get to this stage it will be hard for negative thoughts to penetrate your walls of Godly protection and you will be so convinced of the Godly images you have meditated on that when the enemy attempts to get you to see yourself defeated, you will quickly disregard that image and refocus on God's image of you. You will walk around with a hedge of protection (Ps 34:7), angels become your walls and blessings become your neighborhood.

Who would not want to move to Blessing BLVD? Who would not want to build a house on Prosperous Way? That is God's desire for our lives. He wants to bless us, keep us, and protect us; but it all starts with US! We must change our 'Stinking Thinking' through the Word of God and allow our minds to be reprogrammed, so we can see the changes and the blessings in our lives!

So what does this mean to you? If you submit to the process of mind renewal, allowing yourself to be deprogrammed and then reprogrammed through the Word of God, you can actually get to the stage where you are SO conditioned to think God's way that it will be extremely difficult for the enemy to get a hold of your mind with his negative thoughts of fear, failure, and defeat. This is the stage I pray you desire to get to and I pray that you do. It won't happen overnight, but if you submit to the process, little-by-little, it WILL happen!

Father, I now understand that one of the greatest ways of dealing wit negative stress is to deprogram my mind and then reprogram it to line up with Your Word. Once I start to think like you desire for me to think, and those thoughts produce Godly images of success and victory, I will stress less and enjoy life more. I also know that if I live this way long enough my mindset will become so fixed and focused on You that 'walls' of protection will be established around my mind and it will be like I am TRAPPED behind walls of blessing, where negative thoughts of fear, failure, and defeat will have a hard time getting in. I want to arrive that this stage and I declare by faith that I will. Little-by-little my mind will be renewed and I WILL arrive at the place where I am SO conditioned to thinking Your way that it will be second nature for me to operate in faith and it will be strange for me to operate in fear or stress. In Jesus' name. Amen!

Taking Control of Your Thought Life (Part III)

(II Cor 10:3-5 KJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Yesterday we learned how we can literally be deprogrammed and then reprogrammed through the transforming power of the Word of God. Once we are reprogrammed we will start to think Godly thoughts and those Godly thoughts will produce Godly images - we will see ourselves as successful, peaceful, prosperous, loving, compassionate, kind, etc. Seeing ourselves the way God sees us is extremely important for many reasons, but let me give you two cold morning.

First, it is important because without seeing yourself the way God sees you, you will find it hard to cooperate with God. Let me explain. When God looks at you He sees you a certain way. Not only does He see you, but He also sees your future; He even sees the legacy you will leave behind (our decisions impact our children and our children's children). So when He speaks to you and tells you to do something He has taken all of that into consideration. However, if you fail to see yourself the way God sees you (failing to take your future into consideration and only focusing on the mistakes of your past), then you will not have the faith to cooperate with God and your lack of faith will hinder Him from operating in your life.

Stated another way, God never speaks to our 'right now' stage, He speaks to our 'to be.' He wants to stretch us, but if we have a negative self-image we will be so stuck in the past that we won't be able to see our future, nor strive towards it.

Secondly, it is important because you will never release faith for something you can't see. If God wants us to live by faith (and He does), and we won't release faith for something that we cannot 'see' (and we won't), then it stands to reason that He wants us to develop the ability to see (spiritually) the future He desires for us to have. The Father painstakingly took the time to help Abram see himself the way He saw him. We all know that Jehovah's desire for Abram (aka Abraham) was that He would become a father of many nations and the at the entire earth would be blessed through him.

However, Abram was having a hard time seeing himself that way because he met God when he was 75 years old, his wife was 65 years old, and they had never produced any children. Even after walking with Jehovah for many years the relationship was still unproductive. But one night Jehovah took Abram outside and asked him to look at the stars. God asked, "Can you number them?" Of course Abram could not, and God said, "That's how many children you are going to have." Then one day God took Abram outside, in the desert, on the sand, and asked Abram to look at the sand. As he was looking the Lord asked, "Can you number the grains of sand?" Of course Abram could not, and God said, "That's how many children you are going to have."

What was God doing? God was attempting to get Abram to see himself the way He saw him, because once Abram did, once he was able to SEE IT, then he was able to release his faith FOR IT, and then BECOME IT! If it was daytime Abram could look down (at the sand), if it was nighttime he could look up (at the stars), but either way he had the motivation he needed to stretch his self-image to the point where he could believe God!

So what does this mean to you? It means that if you want to cooperate with God and to live by faith you are going to have to put yourself (God is not going to force you) through the process of mind renewal, so that you can see yourself the way God sees you. Once you do, once you get an image of yourself being what God desires for you to be, then you will have the faith to STEP OUT and do those things required to bring that image to pass! And once you STEP OUT God will back you up!

Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for this Word. I now see the importance of agreeing with Your estimation of me. I declare, by faith, that I develop a self-image that lines up with Your image. I am able to see myself, by faith, the way You see me and I keep that image before me. That image becomes my focal point and I then step out in faith to DO those things that are required of me to produce the image that I see, that came from You. Once I step out in faith, I know You will be there to back me up every step of the way, because You are pleased when I live by faith! I am excited about my future! In Jesus' name. Amen!

Taking Control of Your Thought Life (Part II)

Taking Control of Your Thought Life (Part II)

(II Cor 10:3-5 KJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Yesterday we discussed how worry is basically negative meditation and how dangerous negative mediation can be. If unchecked, negative thoughts will create negative images and if meditated on long enough the negative images will create a stronghold that will keep you trapped in your own mind. This leads to depression and low self-esteem.

Once we get to this stage we pose no threat to the enemy or his kingdom, which is why satan does his best to attack us in our mind. But if this process works in the negative, then it must also work in the positive. Let's look at the flip side of this:

1. Reprogrammed Thoughts: The Bible teaches that we should meditate on the Word of God day and night (Jos 1:8; Ps 1:1-3). When I gave my life to Christ I was in my late 40’s It took years to program my mind the way it was, and believe me my thought life was not the best. I learned through Bible Study and worship that if I wanted to grow in Christ my mind had to be renewed (Ro 12:1,2) and that it could only happen through the Word of God.

I read and studied the Word of God and made myself think about it as I went throughout the day. Slowly but surely, I experienced mental transformation. I was deprogrammed and the reprogrammed through God's Word.

The Greek word Paul uses in Romans 12:2 to explain the "renewing" of the mind is actually the word metamorphosis. This is no small change. A caterpillar, for example, comes out as a butterfly on the other side of the metamorphic process. The butterfly is SO different from the caterpillar that you would have a hard time recognizing it as the same insect. Just think about that for a moment a caterpillar has to crawl on the grown to get around and a butterfly sore in the air.

That's what happened to me and that is what I pray will happen to you. I think differently and therefore I AM a different person (Ps 23:7) and this was no subtle change. Once your mind is reprogrammed towards the things of God you are more open to receive, believe, and walk in His Word. Why? Because you don't see things the way they are, you see things the way YOU are. Once you are different, then your entire world will be different! It will be as different as crawling on the grown and soaring through the air. I don’t know about you but I would much rather fly than crawl on the dirty grown.

2. Lead to Reprogrammed Images: Once your thought life is reprogrammed then your image life will be as well. We learned yesterday that your thoughts lead to your images (imagination). God starts to show you things in your mind's eye that you have never seen before. You start to get desires for things you never had desires for. You start seeing yourself successful, peaceful, prosperous, loving, compassionate, kind, etc.

In the world, sales associates are taught that they need to 'see' themselves closing the deal. In Christ, when you meditate on the Word of God, you will 'see' yourself doing things people said you could not do, going placed they said you could not go, and having things they said you could not have. Pure thoughts lead to Righteous Images! This is extremely important because you will rarely receive what you cannot perceive. But once you can SEE it, then it is only a matter of time before it manifests in your life.

For the sake of time I will stop here today. We will pick this up from here tomorrow.

So what does this mean to you? It means that if you have allowed negative mediation to ensnare you in a negative stronghold, there is HOPE and that HOPE is found in God's Word. When you gave your life to Christ your spirit was saved instantly, but your soul - which is comprised of your mind (your thinker), emotions (your feeler), and will (your chooser) - must be saved progressively. As you meditate on God's Word you will begin to see yourself as God sees you and as you do you will begin to release faith for those images to come to pass. Once you start down this road you will find yourself stressing less and enjoying life more!

Father, I thank You for blessing me to see myself the way You see me. I meditate Your Word day and night and as I do, Your Word produces Godly images. As I see those images I declare by faith that I will believe them, and operate in faith in order that they may come to pass in my life. My spirit was saved the instant I gave my life to Christ, but my soul is being saved today and every day as I endure the metamorphic process that will produce an entirely new ME for You. I declare this by faith! In Jesus' name. Amen!

This is Today's Word!

Taking Control of Your Thought Life

(II Cor 10:3-5 KJV) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

This morning we continue our series: "Victory over Stress!" Most negative stress is caused by worry, which is basically negative meditation. Meditation is powerful. Several times in the Bible the Father has instructed us to meditate on His Word day and night. However, many choose to meditate on negative situations, past failures, and impending challenges. This negative meditation, if not controlled, can lead to depression, and if a believer ever gets to the 'depressed stage' he or she poses no threat to the enemy or his kingdom. This is why the enemy seeks to attack us in the arena of our minds. Paul teaches us this morning that we have the ability to literally take thoughts "captive." Let's take a closer look at this:

1. We Start off with a thought: Our minds are flooded with thoughts from either (1) ourselves, (2) the adversary, or (3) God. What we must do is decipher and decode the origin of the thoughts before we allow them to become our actions. Every action starts with a thought. One quick way of knowing whether or not a thought came from God is to check it against the Word of God. When a thought is contrary to God's Word, then it surely did NOT come form God. The Spirit of God will never lead you contrary to the Word of God.

2. Our thoughts create Images (imaginations): We do not think in words, we think in images. When we allow impure or negative thoughts to enter our minds unchallenged, we will soon see the images these thoughts create.

3. If not controlled, those images can create Strongholds: Uncontrolled thoughts create unruly images. Unruly images, if not challenged with the Word of God, create strongholds that are difficult to escape from. In context, the word stronghold was a reference to a fortified city; a city with high and strong walls designed to keep things in and out. A person that is trapped in addictions to pornography, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sexual immorality, gossip, and etc. are those who have allowed impure thoughts to create impure images unchallenged and now they find themselves trapped in fortified strongholds - in their own minds. The same can be said of those who allow negative thoughts to flow unchecked. Before they realize it they are trapped behind the walls of distressing anxiety and they can't seem to find a way out.

Tomorrow we will look at the 'flip-side' of this verse, at how we can allow our thought life to literally trap us behind the walls of God's blessings so that negative thoughts can't get it.

So what does this mean to you? It means that what we think about is of the utmost importance. If we give our minds over to the wrong thoughts, those thoughts will create the wrong images, and if unchecked those negative images will create a negative stronghold that will be difficult to get out of. Now, notice I say difficult, but not impossible. All things are possible to us who believe. If this message describes you this morning, then there is hope and that hope is in Christ! Through meditating on God's Word and through the power of His Spirit you CAN break out of the negative strongholds you have allowed yourself to be trapped in!

Father, I thank You for exposing this scheme of the enemy. I master my mind through the power of the Holy Spirit, I take control of every thought, and I examine each thought against Your Word. I apply those thoughts that that line up with Your Word and as I do I will be causing my way to be prosperous. I also cast down every thought that does not line up with Your Word. I will not allow impure thoughts to snare me today, nor any day. You have given me the power to succeed and I am successful in my Mind, my Mouth, and my Methods! I will never be the same. Never be the same. Never be the same. In Jesus' name. Amen!