People of God,

I know that it may be hard right now.

I know it may seem like the light of day will never come. The winds and waves rock as the storm in your life is moving.  The key is the word, “moving,” suggests that the rain will pass!

God will dry up the rain and give you what He knows you need. 

Hold on a little while longer and see the manifestation of God’s REIGN in your life!

He has ALL POWER; therefore, the rain, the storm, won’t last!  God will exercise His Mighty Power in your life! Soon and very soon! Soon and very soon!

If we never had rain, if we never had experienced the storm, we’d never realize that God REIGNS over and above all.  The rain releases you to experience God’s overwhelming power to change your life, your situation.

Today’s Scriptures:

Matthew 8:23-27 MSG | The Message

23-25 Then he got in the boat, his disciples with him. The next thing they knew, they were in a severe storm. Waves were crashing into the boat—and he was sound asleep! They roused him, pleading, “Master, save us! We’re going down!”

26 Jesus reprimanded them. “Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?” Then he stood up and told the wind to be silent, the sea to quiet down: “Silence!” The sea became smooth as glass.

27 The men rubbed their eyes, astonished. “What’s going on here? Wind and sea come to heel at his command!”

Isaiah 9(a) CEB | Common English Bible

Nonetheless, those who were in distress won’t be exhausted. At an earlier time

God, Our God, has made us as warriors, CHAMPIONS!

We are victorious over anything and everything that sets itself up to be higher than God.  Listen, the enemy won’t miss an opportunity to mess with our mind!  He sits and waits, he plots to get us, to take captive our minds.  The enemy desires to wipe out our faith, to drain us of strength.

How do we block the enemy’s efforts?  We must realize the strength, the power, the authority that our God has given us, through Christ Jesus!  Jesus conquered death; He saved us and brought us up out of the pit of Hell.  He made us a little lower than His angels.

What does that mean?  This means that we have to be in His Word, at all times.  We can’t afford to miss what He is saying, through His Holy Word (STUDY), through His conversations to/with us, in prayer. It is through His confidence that we gain confidence by way of our prayers, our praise and our worship.

Do you realize whose child you are?  You are a child of The Most High God! Act like it!

I guarantee that if you put Jesus in it, if you turn it over to Him, if you leave it in His Hands, He will fight for you! You are victorious because He is The LORD, because no one is a match for Him. 

You can’t just put on the Breastplate of Righteousness without the Helmet of Salvation; you will be half-cocked, that is, you won’t be prepared, fully covered. You won’t be fully equipped to handle the enemy.  Therefore, gear up in His whole armor!

The Armor of God includes:

1. Helmet of Salvation (head) –
   1. Acceptance of Christ as Lord in your life, forsaking all; knowledge and realization of His ability to save us!
2. Breastplate of Righteousness (chest)-
   1. Given by Jesus death, burial, and resurrection
3. Loins (back, torso) guarded in The Truth of Jesus Christ –
   1. knowledge of God who is The Truth…why the back? The back holds your body up, gives your body stability
4. Feet (foundation) with preparation for The Gospel –
   1. standing always in testament of God’s authority
5. Shield of Faith (internal weapon expressed externally, too)-
   1. Built up through all of your experiences where God has come in and made a way (your testimonies)!
   2. Built up through the testimonials of others, too!

Remember, you aren’t fighting against people, per se, you are fighting against spirits.  You must fight spirits with The Holy Spirit! 

Today’s Scriptures:

Ephesians 6:11-15 NIV | New International Version

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

Psalm 8:3-6 ESV | English Standard Version

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,

Life is hard! Whoever says different, is not being truthful.

As Christians, we must remember that the hard times we face are only temporary.  Sometimes, hard times are not attributed to your wrongdoings; it may be because God is trying to teach your patience and perseverance.  God wants you to totally rely on Him. H

Today, the antidote, the formula for getting through these tough, trying times is to PRAISE GOD, in the midst of the circumstances. 

• You are praying and waiting with/in the expectation that God will manifest His Word in your life.
• You are PRAISING because you are responding to your troubles by adding FAITH.

Ask God to help you. PRAISE Him because of what He has done for you, before, and believe He will do the same for you, now.

I must admit that I have often looked at my situation and felt hopeless.  I have learned and continue to try to do my best to remember that God does not fall short of His Word and that He promised to provide, to make ways through it and into my next place where I will find strength, encouragement, hope, and rejuvenation.

Today’s Scriptures:

Psalm 27:14 NIV | New International Version

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Jeremiah 29: 11-13 NIV | New International Version

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Colossians 1:11-20 GW | God’s Word Translation

We ask him to strengthen you by his glorious might with all the power you need to patiently endure everything with joy. 12 You will also thank the Father, who has made you able to share the light, which is what God’s people inherit.

LISTEN NOW: Anything Can Happen – Jonathan Nelson

Listen, People of God, we may suffer difficulties with family, friends, and foes.  We may have experiences that make us feel that we have fallen.

We may even have some sins that the enemy tries to convince us that repenting, in sincerity, doesn’t reach. He makes us feel that God won’t forgive us. THE devil IS A LIAR and a deceiver, too!

We rise up from persecution, tribulation, turmoil, confusion, depression, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of regret and remorse, and a broken/crushed heart.

Circumstances won’t keep me from the conclusion, the end result! We shall overcome! We have the victory, in Jesus Christ.

Speak life over yourself! You’re set to be relieved, to rise up with your head and hands lifted towards God who will respond! Rise again IN THE NAME OF JESUS!

Today’s Scriptures:

Psalm 40:2 ESV | English Standard Version

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

Psalm 37:24 KJV | King James Version

Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

Micah 7:8 GNT | God News Translation

Our enemies have no reason to gloat over us. We have fallen, but we will rise again. We are in darkness now, but the LORD will give us light.

People of God,

Don’t you know that the enemy wants to trap you, kill you, destroy you, take from you, hold you in captivity.  The enemy wants to trap your mind and trick you into believing that your God is not real and that God will not fight for you.  The enemy wants to kill your will to do what’s right, by God’s standards. The enemy desires to rob you of peace, of a sound mind.

Since you know this, you have to respond, accordingly.

How do you respond to temptation? Do you take the bait that the enemy is dangling in your face, your mind? Do you fall subject, as prey?  Do you want to get out? Do you want to be free? Are you tired of the way you are living, as in, living in the sin(s) (bad behavior(s)) that you know is/are not good for you (disobedience)?  Are you circling your own tail – going around and around the same cycle of abuse, cycle of sins? Is/Are the sin(s) you commit, repeated?  Do you feel there is no hope and that getting out of temptation is going to force change, for the good, in your life?

Is obedience a sacrifice? Yes, very much so. 

Will you have to sacrifice your earthly desires? Will you hand it over to God? Are you afraid that God won’ rescue you from temptation?  Sometimes, we lack faith. We lack the belief that God can deliver us from it, whatever it is that has us bound in chains, especially if we have been in it for a long time. Don’t you know that Our God can set us free?  There are no chains that the enemy can hold so tight that God can’t break! BE FREE, COME OUT! BREAK THROUGH IT, BY THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD!

Therefore, People of God, I declare that we are coming out! 

Whatever it is, whether it be depression, alcohol, drugs, adultery, fornication, stealing, killing, confused minds, trouble hearts, a babbling tongue, sexual perversion, addiction to people, addiction to things, behaviors that are in opposition to the obedience that God desires from us. 

We can escape! Don’t be fooled, escape is possible!

We will escape if we are willing to confess our sins unto The Lord.  As soon as we say, “God, I am willing! God, I want to come out! God, this thing is much bigger than me but it isn’t bigger than You!”

Some of us are serious about letting go of the thing(s) that bind us, trap us, deter us!

Today, if you are serious, God wants you to fall to your knees, bow your head, and cry out to Him.  What do you mean by cry out?  I mean tell God about it.  If it’s bad relationships that are binding you, if it is sex that is binding you, if it is a clouded mind that is full of confusion, depression, anxiety, guilt, just know that nothing, no one can beat Our God! No thing (sin) or sins can beat God’s willingness to forgive! No sin can escape His deliverance when we are willing to let it go!

Some things God has to pull out, in time.  In the time that God chooses, we have to constantly stay in a state of repentance and thanksgiving.  Why be thankful?  Because while we yet sin, God said that He will wipe it away! He will erase the blemishes, destroy it.  BREAK THE CHAINS, OH GOD! FORGIVE OUR SOULS. HEAL US. DELIVER US OUT OF THE HAND OF THE ENEMY!

GOD loves us enough that when we give in to temptation, He does give us an escape route.  Will you take that exit? The exit door is right in front of you. Will you see it?  Can you see it through the temptation, the giving into temptation? Wipe your lenses, see the EXIT sign. It’s there because God is faithful!

Dear Lord,

I am sorry. I am open to You. I am naked before You. I repent to you, my sins. I admit that some things I feel I have no control over.  Some things have lasted, some sins, lasted a very long time.  Lord, You are God.  There is nothing that You can’t do for me.  Deliver me from temptation.  Hold my hand and guide me into Your space.  Forgive me because some sins, temptation, I want to walk into because it makes me comfortable, it feels good and it looks good. 

Help, oh God! I am Your child.  No one can hold me captive and mistreat me for my sins. I fall and I have fallen. BUT, You give me courage, strength, to even admit my sins to You.

God, here I am. I am right here in front of You. God, I realize my life needs to change.  Change is overdue. I realize that with You, the chains are broken! They are broken, they are broken, In The Name of Jesus!  Therefore, this prayer is signed, sealed, and delivered to You, through Christ Jesus, Amen!

Today’s Scriptures:

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT | New Living Translation

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Psalm 124:7 NLT | New Living Translation

We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap. The trap is broken, and we are free!

2 Corinthians 11:33 NASB | New American Standard Bible

and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

1 John 2:14

ESV | English Standard Version: If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

GW | God’s Word Translation: I’ve written to you, children, because you know the Father. I’ve written to you, fathers, because you know Christ, who has existed from the beginning. I’ve written to you, young people, because you are strong and God’s word lives in you. You have won the victory over the evil one.

1 John 5:17-20 KJV | King James Version

¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

¹⁸ We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

¹⁹ And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

I’m on the way to my destiny in Jesus The Christ!

Come hell or high water, come valleys low, come disappoint, come stress, come depression and anxiety, I will not give up because I have the directions.

I have been giving the travel guide AND the map. Now, I’m ready and devil you can’t stop me. I’m in transit!

Where am I headed to? I’m headed to Deliverance, to strength and stability, to greater in God, to forgiveness of sins, to restoration and rejuvenation, to peace and tranquility, and to my destiny!

Just because (I) you stumble, doesn’t mean you (I) have lost the directions. God catches us before we fall! Hang on tight to the Directions because they lead us to our Divine Destiny, In Jesus The Christ!

Bless Our God.

Today’s Scriptures:

Psalm 37:24 NLT | New Living Translation

Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV | New International Version

For I know the plans (THE DIRECTIONS) I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Psalm 18 mentions the need to cry out to God for help, for strength, for rejuvenation, for relief. Commission God through the authority that He has given us, because of His Son.

Cry out when you have a heavy heart, when the world seems to knock you down and you can’t find a faithful friend, anywhere.

Don’t delay.  Your deliverance, your breakthrough, your healing is all in the act of crying out before God.

Crying out to God shows Him how much you need Him to make it through a struggle or struggles.

The enemy wants to distract you, tear you up inside, take what’s not His to begin with. The enemy wishes to harm you, to control you, to take over your mind and negatively influence you to not praise Our God, even in the midst of stormy situations.

Bishop Grinstead, Pastor of Puritan M.B.C. (Indianapolis, Indiana) said it plain; He spoke of “Supernatural Provision.”  God is in the “SUPERNATURAL” and He’s about to bring it into the natural realm all that you need.  All that you need, God says, “I got it, wont you trust me?”

Don’t you know that your victory is in your praise?  Offer a sacrifice of praise to God: this praise is for when you feel like giving up but you acknowledge that God never left you before. This praise comes in recognition that God gives peace, protection, His ability to restore and replenish. Falling down before Him to cry out for the change that you are needing to be activated in your life.

God answers prayers.  Your strength is on the way! You won’t look like what you’ve been through! Bless Our God!

We must be obedient and submit to His Way – there is no other option!  You want Him to crush the wall you are at, the storm that will come?  Bow down and worship Him.

Submit praise unto Him who is able.  Make time to commune with Him.  Stop wallowing in bad behavior (depression, stress, anxiety).  Stand firm on what’s right: not unto the world’s standards, but unto God’s standards.  Don’t try to satisfy others: You can’t buy or talk your way into receiving the love of others. Pray and praise some more! – It’s a new day!

Today’s Scriptures:

Psalm 18:12-14, 16-17, 27-29 NLT| New Living Translation

(12) Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him and rained down hail and burning coals. (13) The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals.

(14) He shot his arrows and scattered his enemies; his lightning flashed, and they were greatly confused. (16) He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. (17) He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.

(27) You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. (28) You light a lamp for me. The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness. (29) In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.

In it inevitable, Christians go through many trials.  Just like Jesus, we suffer persecution every day.  Whether it be on the job, in school, in relationships (friends and/or spouses), and/or at church.

God equips us with the following:

• Strength to endure,

• Strength in suffering,

• Strength to change,

• Strength to fight against all odds

THE ENEMY WANTS TO TRAP US IN OUR TRIALS & IN OUR THOUGHTS. The truth is that if we keep our eyes on Jesus, the Way-maker, the Deliverer, we can approach every trial with the mindset that He will supply all of our needs and He will rescue us from our troubles, our trials, in His timing.

Trials are meant to strengthen our faith.  Sometimes we ask why God allows things to happen to us.  The answer is that God allows us to go through situations to help us and to be a witness to others, giving us and others the strength, the encouragement by way of our testimonies of His goodness.

The Bible teaches us to be thankful in all things and to prayer without stopping.

In trials, pray and praise, pray and praise while adding in worship.

• The Lord says that He is with us, always.
• The Lord says that vengeance is His.  Therefore, our strength is built, not on people, but on Him.

TAKE SOME TIME THIS WEEK TO REFLECT ON YOUR PAST VICTORIES.  Remember that God will come through for you if you keep your mind on Him. God is The Problem-Solver. There is no problem big enough that God can’t solve.

Whatever it is that you are facing, don’t lose hope.  Hold fast to your belief in God.

Make a decision to trust God, no matter the obstacle. You can’t have the victory if you aren’t willing to put in time to listen to God.  We need to study The Word of God.  We need to fast.  We should give a sacrifice of praise.

Don’t be lazy in God. STEP YOUR GAME UP! Isaiah 48:18

Today’s Scriptures:

Spiritual Food for the Soul – the ingredients are below

• Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV | New King James Version

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him beglory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

• Luke 18:1 NLT | New Living Translation

One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.

• Exodus 14:14 ESV |English Standard Version

The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.

• Deuteronomy 3:22 GNT |God News Translation

Don’t be afraid of them, for the LORD your God will fight for you.

• 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 NASB | New American Standard

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast [a]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with [b]insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

NOTE: Being content doesn’t mean that God won’t turn your situation around, it simply means that whatever you face, you rest in knowing that it won’t be long before The Rescuer, The Deliver shows up.

• Philippians 4:11-13 NIV | New International Version

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength