Hold on tight to your dreams.

“And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground.” Genesis 44:14
This short verse captures that defining moment when Joseph’s dreams came true. Some thirty years earlier when he was still a boy at home Joseph had said, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. (see Gen 37:6-8).

And now, after an epic journey filled with betrayal and a sequence of severe injustices, the very thing Joseph had seen in his dream actually happens before his very eyes.
Dreams surely do come true. Though a man may be immature and unseasoned in the things of God when a dream first comes, and speaks beyond the boundaries of prudence, thereby stirring the hearts of others with disdain or envy; and though much trouble may arise over the course of time and challenge not only the validity of the dream, but also the sanity and credibility of the dreamer — nevertheless, know that a dream from God will surely come true.
Therefore, wait for it; wait for the appointed time when the Lord brings to pass that which He promised in the tender days when you took your first fledgling steps of faith. Between the promise which God has made and the fulfillment of it in your life there may await a pit, a prosecutor, and a prison — yet always the palace is indeed towering in the distance. Stay the course, for you shall enter in and find full vindication from God, and satisfaction in the things He has ordained.
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Numbers 23:19)
Hold on tight to your dreams.

Faith

(Prov 22:17 & 18 AMP) Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them.

Yesterday I introduced you to these verses and we dealt with the process of mind renewal. I told you that when we hear something from God that is contrary to what we believe, that we must then make a decision to either stand by our old beliefs (even though they are clearly against God's way) or submit to the process of mind renewal so that we can experience true transformation. Getting our mind programmed to think God's way is extremely important for the believer. Unless we learn to think God's way, we will never truly experience all that God wants us to experience in the earth.

Getting our minds programmed in the first step and once our minds are renewed our words will follow, because what's in us abundantly comes out of us eventually. The way we think and the words we say have a great deal to do with the life we live and whether or not we will experience God's best.

Let me explain it this way: Paul said, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom 10:1,10).

This passage is commonly used for salvation. The Holy Spirit through Paul teaches us that if we confess Jesus as Lord with a believing heart we will be saved. Think about that for a moment. We use our mouths (what we say) and our hearts (what we believe) to make a confession unto salvation. To get a better understanding of this we need to look at the original language. The word translated "confess" in v.9 and "confession" in v.10 is the same word. It is the Greek word "homologeo." This is a compound word. It comes from "homo," meaning the same as; and "logeo," where we get "logos," meaning the written Word. In this case, it is a reference to the written Word of God. So, in context, to confess with your mouth is to literally say the SAME AS the Word of God concerning... whatever you are confessing. In the case of salvation it is saying the SAME AS the Word of God about who Jesus is and who He is in your life. Once you confess Him as Lord, with your lips, from a believing heart, He becomes your Lord and Savior and you are translated out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of God. You are saved by speaking words with a believing heart. Or in other words, speaking words that you believe!

If words spoken from a believing heart can change your eternal destination, then doesn't it stand to reason that the same would apply to other areas of your life? If speaking believing words that agree with God's Word kept me from going to hell, then I have to believe (and I do) that speaking believing words that agree with God's Word will keep peace in my marriage, warmth in my home, obedience in my children, health in my body, success in my career, and etc. But remember, I am not speaking of empty words, I am speaking of words that you believe - words spoken from a believing heart!

So what does this mean? It means that you must have faith in two places: your heart and your mouth. Confessing and believing (together) is what kept your life from hell and this same combination can keep hell from of your life. Solomon teaches that once you get God's Word in your heart, your lips will be accustomed to confessing it and your life will never be the same!

Father, I have faith in my heart and in my mouth. My words come out of the abundance of my heart. I fill my heart with good things, so that my words will be words of blessing and not cursing, good and not evil, life and not death. Once my input is pure, my heart is right, and my words are righteous, I cannot help but be blessed. My heart is filled with Your Word and out of my lips come words that line up with Your Word, spoken from a believing heart, and because I speak faith-filled words, and I believe what I am saying, You are able to use me for Your glory daily! I speak words of prayer in the morning, in faith, and I backup my words of prayer with faith-filled words (spoken from a believing heart) all day long! In Jesus' name. Amen!

He sent His word and healed them

He sent His word and healed them

Your Bible will do you no good if you leave it on your bedside table, gathering dust. It will do you no good if you hold it like a teddy bear when you are facing your “giants”. But God’s Word will do you a lot of good when you receive it as truth and speak it as truth! Then, you will see your healing and deliverance from every evil condition that has been sent to destroy you!


The Bible says that “He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions”. Now, when God wants to heal you, what does He do? He sends His Word. Before God delivers you from your destruction, He sends His Word.


Are you still waiting to experience the blessing of healing that Jesus died on the cross to give you? Don’t feel condemned. Your Father in heaven loves you and wants you well. But how does your healing come? By you receiving His Word on healing that He has already sent you. His promises of healing are all there in your Bible. But have you received them?

Pastor Joseph Prince once said that during one of his church services, a lady took out her cell phone and started sending text messages of every scripture and almost every key point that he was preaching that day to her friend who was at home dying of cancer. He was telling the congregation to keep confessing the healing scriptures over their bodies, no matter how bad their conditions were. He used Isaiah 53:5, which says, “By His stripes we are healed.” He said that the lady got so excited that she told her friend to keep believing and confessing it every day!


He went on to say that her friend, continued on reading the text messages, simply received the Word of God and confessed it by faith. That very same week, when she went back to the doctor, the doctor could not find a single trace of cancer in her body!


Never underestimate the power of God’s Word. The lady’s friend was healed because she received God’s Word by faith. She gladly read the messages that her friend had sent her, was encouraged by the Word, confessed it and received her miracle. God sent His Word and healed her, and saved her from her destruction!

Avoiding Sexual Sin

(Prov 22:14 AMP) The mouth of a loose woman is a deep pit [for ensnaring wild animals]; he with whom the Lord is indignant and who is abhorrent to Him will fall into it.

One of the clear advantages of reading through, applying, and being transformed by God's wisdom literature (like the book of Proverbs) is so that we can develop and maintain Godly discretion -the ability to judge critically and to distinguish between Godly right and wrong. We need divine discretion because the attacks from the enemy are endless. Our enemy is a deceiver, a conniver, and he will do everything he can to get us to go down the wrong path, to stray from God's best.

One of satan's most successful tactics is sexual sin. Here Solomon tells us about the dangers of a loose woman's (man’s) mouth. Some translations list her as an adulterous woman. Whatever the case, this is obviously a woman (or man for that matter) with which the reader has no right to legal/marital sex. Back in chapter five Solomon warned us about her, saying: "For the lips of an immoral woman (man) are as sweet as honey, and her (his) mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she (he) is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword" (verses 3 and 4).

This woman (man) comes with sweet words that drip off her lips like honey, and therein lays the danger. She (he) may come to you with smooth, sweet, and flattering words; she (he) might paint a picture of sensually enticing bliss; he may look and sound very tempting and that is exactly his aim. He is telling you what you want to hear. He is appealing to whatever remnant of lust and illicit desire remains in your heart. In our text Solomon tells us that those who are against the Lord fall right into his trap. But the sad reality is that many Christians have fallen into this trap as well. Why? Because they get drawn away by their lusts.

Not only does sin leads to death, but sexual sin is extremely dangerous. Sexual sin can quickly destroy the bonds of a family; it can tear apart husbands and wives, father and sons, mothers and daughters. It can erode a person's desire, will, and ability to love. It strips a marriage of intimacy. It degrades partners to mere objects. It can lead to disease and unplanned children. It can be awfully destructive and that is exactly why the enemy uses it so much. Sexual sin, perhaps above all other forms of sin, has caused the fall of many church leaders who were impacting lives for Christ. When the leader of a church falls to sexual sin it causes some to question their walk with God, some to make concessions for sin, saying "Well, Pastor such and such did it," and then - and probably the worse of all - it causes some to avoid the church and God altogether, claiming that Christianity is not but a gathering of hypocrites.

So what does this mean? It means that you must develop and operate in the divine discretion. Paul told us not to be ignorant (2nd Cor 2:11) of the devil's schemes, tricks or ways. The enemy will always seek to paint a rosy picture of sin. He will make every attempt to lure you from God's best. His temptations may start off sweet as honey, but they end with the debilitating power of poison and the sharp edge of a sword. When you operate in divine discretion, with spiritual discernment, you are able to see right through the smoke screen of the enemy and to resist the temptation of sin. So walk closely with God, by led of the Spirit, remain consistent in prayer, and you will be able to develop the discretion you need to avoid the pitfalls of the enemy!

Father, I declare by faith, that I walk with You and You walk with me today and every day. I am led by Your Spirit, governed by Your Word, and ruled by Your law. I operate in spiritual discernment and I am able to distinguish between divine right and wrong, between God and satan, and between blessing and cursing. I am not tricked by sweet lips of honey. I walk in righteousness, holiness, and purity, and I do it by faith! I am determined to arrive at Your desired destination for my life and I am equally determined to make the impact You desire for me to make along the way. So I avoid, even the very appearance of evil, so that I can shine as light in the midst of darkness. In Jesus' name. Amen!

Yield to God

(Prov 22:17 & 18 AMP) Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge; for it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them.

While we have been doing a verse-by-verse study of this book, I had to join these two verses today, because they were joined when Solomon originally penned them, under the unction of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Himself speaks through Solomon in first person and tells us to listen to the words of the wise. The Amplified translation adds the words "consent and submit," so that we can get a clear understanding of what the Lord is saying. The Father does not want us to merely listen to the words of those He has imparted His wisdom into, He literally wants us to give way to them. To consent is to agree with and to submit is to yield to. When we receive divine wisdom - whether in the pages of the Bible or from the lips of Godly people - we are to:

1) agree with what God is saying, and most importantly
2) yield to the wisdom.

When we chose to submit to what God is saying, especially when it is contrary to what we had been doing, it means that we are willing to actually CHANGE! Reading the Bible, going to church and hearing a good sermon, attending a great Bible study, or having a prolonged session with a Godly-wise person are all great, but they won't accomplish much in our lives if we are not willing to apply what we learned. Information without application does not instigate change.

We must be willing to turn the corner from information to application.
We must be willing to take what we have learned and put it in action. We must be willing to DO what we have HEARD! James said, "But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves."

The reality is that we will never submit or give way to divine wisdom if we are not willing to transform our thinking. When we come to God our soul is already conditioned to think, feel, and choose a certain way. Most of us came to God with a soul that was not conditioned to think, feel, and choose in ways that are pleasing to Him. Paul said it this way, "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" (Rom 12:2).

So what does this mean? A few things:
1. When you came to God you already had a mindset established.
2. When you receive divine wisdom (in the Bible or through others) it often stands directly against what you believed (your beliefs, values, ideals, attitude) in the past.
3. When there is a conflict between what you believed and what God is saying to you, you must make a choice to either stand by your old beliefs (even though they are clearly against God's way) or to submit to the process of mind renewal so that you can give way to transformation.
4. The more you are willing to submit to (yield, give way) to God's instruction over your old beliefs, the faster you will become the man/woman God has designed and destined you to be!

Father, I won't fight the process. I know that I came to You with a system of values, beliefs, and ideals that were not all consistent with Yours. Day-by-day, as You expose me to Your wisdom, both in Your Word and through others, I declare, by faith, that I will submit and yield to it. Whenever there is a conflict between what I used to believe and what You are telling me, I shall yield to You every time. I welcome the process of mind renewal. I want to be changed. I want to learn to think as You would have me to think. I want to see things the way You do. I want to take Your side on every position. I want to be more and more like You. I submit to the process and I shall be changed! I declare this by faith! In Jesus' name. Amen!

Overcoming Laziness

(Prov 22:13 NIrV) People who don't want to work say, "There's a lion outside!" Or they say, "I'll be murdered if I go out into the streets!"

When I first read this scripture I honestly had no clue what Solomon was talking about. But as I read it from different translations and read what the scholars had to say, I finally got the point. Solomon exposes his humorous side as he describes the hyperbole of the lazy man. Basically, the message here is that if a lazy man can't find an excuse for not going to work, he will make one up, no matter how ridiculous it is. In this case the lazy man, not being able to find any other reason not to go to work, comes up with the outlandish story that there is a lion loose in the city. This way he can obviously excuse himself from going outside, because, of course, if he does, he will be eaten alive on the streets.

Part of what Solomon is teaching us here is about the ingenuity with which the slothful attempt to get out of work. Have you ever noticed how much effort people put into getting out of something? If they put half that effort into the actual work itself, the work would be done. I have seen people go to great lengths to avoid doing something. These people are extremely creative. YouTube is full of videos where people came up with creative ways for avoiding work. But why? Why not just use that creativity in a positive way?

This reminds me of some of the friends I had back in the day who chose the illegal route. Most of them are dead or incarcerated at this point, but I often wondered why they did not use their ingenuity in a legal way. They bought a product, repacked it, marketed it, came up with a distribution system, and then sold it for a profit. If they could do this for something illegal, then why not do it with something legal? I'll tell you why, because they were too lazy. A legal business would have required more start up capital to launch, it would have involved more overhead, and would not have produced the same level of profits, which would mean that they would have to put in more work to enjoy lavish lifestyles they were seeking.

So what does this mean? Two things:
1. Learn the value of honest work. God never promised to give you everything on a silver platter. But if you work honestly and diligently, and you honor the Lord with your finances, you will find that you will have more than enough to meet your needs and you will have the added benefit of being at peace with God and yourself. It is extremely satisfying to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor; fully knowing your labor was honest and earnest.
2. Refocus your energy. You can wreck your life by spending too much time, energy, and effort attempting to get out of things you know you need to do. Determine within yourself to DO what you need to do, WHEN you need to do it, and then DO IT to the glory of God. Believe me, your life will be much more rewarding this way.

Father, I thank You for this reminder this morning. I am determined to DO all that I am required to DO, and as I DO it, I ask You to bless me with the insight, revelation, wisdom, and understanding required to DO it well. I refocus my energy today and I use the ingenuity You have blessed me with to accomplish every task efficiently and effectively. Like Daniel, I work with an excellent spirit and You bless the work of my hands. The more I do, the more You bless what I do, and the more I experience Your best in the earth. I represent You Father, today and every day, as I seek to glorify You in my life and living. Every meeting, conversation, and activity I engage in today will bring glory to Your name! I declare this by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Love Your Children Enough to

(Prov 22:15 NLT) A youngster's heart is filled with foolishness, but physical discipline will drive it far away.

Here Solomon brings up something that is not popular today: physical discipline in parenting. The Good News Bible translation of this verse reads, "Children just naturally do silly, careless things, but a good spanking will teach them how to behave." Believe me, Solomon was not an advocate of child abuse, and quite honestly, no one in his day would have confused what he is saying with anything other than parenting. While it is flat-out wrong to abuse a child, we cannot fail to correct them under the guise of 'political correctness.' Today it seems like people want to accept anything and everything, as if everything is right and nothing is wrong.

No, our Heavenly Father parents us (spiritually) and He expects us to parent our children spiritual and naturally. While parenting is very rewarding (I have two children) because you realize the Father has entrusted you with the well-being and developmental responsibilities of other human beings, it can also be a time consuming, emotion stirring, and heart draining experience. But we, as Godly parents, we must parent, no matter the cost in time, energy, and effort.

We were all born after Adam (with a sin nature) and we must therefore be Born-Again after Jesus (in righteousness). Children have a natural tendency to say "No" and to do things that will be harmful for them in the long run. In chapter 13 Solomon said, "Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them" (v.24). That's strong language, but the Bible does not pull any punches here. If we love our children we must correct them when they are going astray. And don't wait until it's too late either. In chapter 19 Solomon said, "Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives" (v.18). You don't want to wait until your children are adults to begin to discipline them, because by then they may not hear what you have to say. They need to know early off in their development that they have parents who love them enough to correct them. And this leads us back to physical discipline, because you can't have an hour-long conversation with a little child. When I tap my little granddaughter on the hand for doing something wrong, it registers with her little mind in a way that a five-minute conversation will not. I am not talking about abuse, but rather discipline, performed in love. Love is the key to all of this. None of this matters if it is not done in love.

On the flip side, if we fail to properly discipline our children and we allow them to grow up without boundaries or consequences, not only will we be accountable to God for our neglect (some day), but we will also have to deal with the unruly children (today). Modern daytime talk shows don't have to look very far to find children who were not ever truly parented and the results can be devastating; for both the parents and the children.

So what does this mean? Simply put, it means that if you love your children you will discipline them; and while this may include some form of physical correction, it is definitely NOT limited to it. Take the time to parent your children, no matter how much it costs you. In the end, your labor will not be in vain!

Father, thank You for giving me the wisdom and insight to provide my children the training, correction, and discipline they need to develop into the men and women You have called them to be. I love my children JUST they way they are, but I also love them too much to leave them without correction. I declare, by faith, that you give me creative ways to reach my children, so that they can understand right from wrong, so that they prepared them for their life's assignment, and so that I am able to stand before You with clean hands. I will not neglect my part in their development! In Jesus' name. Amen!