Tag: faith

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 AMP ~ “Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day by day. [17] For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is producing for us an eternal weight of glory [a fullness] beyond all measure [surpassing all comparisons, a transcendent splendor and an endless blessedness]! [18] So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable.”

I can count the times over the past four years that I have duplicated a devotional before; but this one right here, is one that I believe we all need, might not be today, but tomorrow is coming! And you will understand it better by and by!

Yesterday morning in Prayer my friend Prophetess Kenita, said you will understand it better by and by! I immediately thought about my grandmother and what she used to tell me when I felt like I was going through a thing, she’d say, “You will understand it better by and by!” Now, I had no idea what she meant then, but my God, oh how I understand it now! So today, I want you to be encouraged, do not let what troubles or trials that are present in your life now drain you of the eternal hope that comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit! “Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace: Thereby good shall come unto thee.” Job‬ ‭22‬:‭21‬ ‭KJV‬‬! It’s in the By and By time that you need to be and done got acquainted with Jesus! (Yes, I know I used incorrect grammar, it was on purpose!)

The troubles that you are walking through should not cause you to lose your faith or hope in your eternal God, but you should recognize that there is purpose in your pain! It was necessary!  Those trials of life are designed to remind you of Jesus Christ suffering, (and you are to take up your cross daily, Luke 9:23); it keeps you humble and away from pride, (because pride comes before fall, Proverbs 16:18) and it shows you how short this life can be, here today, gone today (James 4:12) and it keeps you silent, (James 1:19) it teaches you when to speak and when to listen and it gives God the freedom to show off His Power through your life and weakness (Isaiah 40:29)!

We all know that there is something going on, on every hand, and you might not quite understand it yet, and that’s okay, because everything is designed by God to lead you to the Promise Land, His Eternal Glory, and He is with you, He promised to never leave or forsake you, Deuteronomy 31:8! See your troubles as opportunities for God to be seen in you! Your faith must go beyond the pain that you visibly see, to remind you of the invisible that you don’t see, and to know that God is working on everything for your good, Romans 8:28! Draw your strength from the Word of God, knowing that He knows all things and He’s in control of everything! Get acquainted with your Father and His Word, it’s your oxygen that you need to keep breathing and living!

There is a song written by Charles Albert Tindley, in 1851, “We’ll Understand It Better By and By!”

“By and by, when the morning comes, All the saints of God are gathered home, We will tell the story how we’ve overcome, And we’ll understand it better by and by; Trials dark on every hand, And we may not understand, All the ways that God would lead us, To that blessed promised land, But he’ll guide us with his eyes; And we’ll follow ’til we die,  And we’ll understand it better by and by; Temptation, hidden snares, Often take us unawares, And our hearts are made to bleed, For a thoughtless word or deed, And we wonder why the test, When we try to do our best, But we will understand it better by and by; Chorus: By and by, when the morning comes), Oh, yeah, when the morning comes, All the saints of God are gathered home , (All the saints of God are gathered home), We gonna tell the story how we’ll overcome, And we’ll understand it better by and by…”

I know that you want God to answer you right now, but He will not move on your timeline, you have to wait, and no one knows how long, but God does, and sometimes you just have to wait until the break of dawn comes in the morning! Oh, but there is a better way! Approach the issue with a light touch by viewing it through God’s Revealing Light! And put some space between you and your concerns so that you can see God’s view, His perspective! Because sometimes your sight can be off, and when this happens you can misinterpret the whole thing, so don’t lose sight of God! Everything that is above you is beneath God! So, in the words of my friend, blink twice and look again! And you will understand it better by and by, just hold on to God’s unchanging hands!

Let’s Pray:
Father, Abba Father, Thank You for the morning! Father, keep my eyes on You and not what surrounds me, which so easily besets me because of what I see. Help me to see everything through Your eyes and to know that You are with me through every trial, tragedy, and temptation and to know that everything that I walk through on this side is for purpose. Father, help me to always remember that I live by faith and not by sight.  Father, help me to rise above life’s visible issues to the invisible that is made known to me through Your Word, 2 Corinthians 4:18! Father, help me to persevere through my personal hardships that I may gain an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Blessings…
Minister Jean

John 15:1,3-5 AMP ~ “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. [3] You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you]. [4] Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me. [5] I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.”

Does your life feel like God has been doing some repositioning in your life? Does it feel like painful pruning is taking place? Remember you are in the loving hands of your Father. Don’t lose sight of the end because the beginning is painful! It’s all rooted and done out of the love He has for you! It was the Vine and Vinedresser that is doing it to you and for you! 

Do you want to know what a Vinedresser actually does? Let me tell you. Strong’s Concordance defines it as: “a worker of the soil, husbandman, farmer, farm-laborer.” “The Vinedresser takes hold of the vine and entwine it on a trellis or wires, to keep air flowing underneath it so it can bear healthy fruit.” Unlike fruit trees, a grapevine cannot stand up straight on its own. Grapevines grow downward and because of their nature, the weight of the grapes, it makes them lay on the ground and this causes them to get wet and when they get wet, they wither or produce little fruit. 

One of the most important responsibilities of the vinedresser is to take a hold of the vine and entwine it on a trellis to keep air flowing underneath it so it can bear healthy fruit. Have you ever been really comfortable and then out of the blue you started to feel like you were out of place? It’s God! God in His Wisdom has decided that you need a life adjustment, a change to take place, a position change so that you can continue bearing fruit, spiritual fruit that is! And guess what your Father has the right to adjust whatever He wants in you, after all He is your Creator! He knows when it’s time for you to move! 

The problem with a lot of us, is that we are trying to build permanent dwellings in places where you should have had a fold and go tent! Let me get back on track, that’s a devotional for another day! Getting back to the Vinedresser, He knows when you need an adjustment, to help you bear more fruit! So, whether you physically move or change locations, He’s moving you from a place of comfort to a place of uncertainty to help you, to teach you that you need Him! Or He could just change your circumstances to prepare you for greater productivity for His Kingdom?

The Vinedresser prunes you because He wants your life to be a reflection of His character, plain and simple! Don’t think of His pruning as painful, see it as purpose and this is pertinent to your growth and development! Remember our God is Sovereign and He knows exactly what situations to place you in to produce better fruit for His Harvest. All you have to do is remain in Jesus and He will remain in you, that’s what His Word promises!!! 

Outside of being connected with Jesus Christ, The Vine, you cannot be connected to the Vine Dresser, your Father, (John 15:5 NIV, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”) In order to walk the way, you ought to, you need Him, you need His Word to be perfected in you, so that you can Abide with Him, because without the source, you can’t do anything, not even breathe! God is repositioning you for greater productivity, your Father is pruning you on purpose, He wants you to bear more fruit! 

The want to be gardener in me loves this story in John 15, (spend some time studying this chapter) Jesus is the Root and the Stems of the Vine, and me and you are the branches that grow out of His roots.  You see when grapevines are left untended, they will stretch out of place and produce leafy canopies (overhanging leaves). I know sometimes it looks healthy from the outside, (just like us, we know how to make our physical look good, but the inside is hollow). So, while the green leaves look healthy, they are not producing as much fruit as they can. You do know that the purpose is to produce fruit, and in order to get all of your nutrients from Him so that you might live, bloom, branch out, and produce more fruit you need pruning! 

Don’t let your service into God be only lip service, no word, no faith, no works and no fruit! Matthew 7:16,19-20 NKJV, “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? [19] Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [20] Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” So, now you should truly understand the purpose of a The Vine (Jesus), The Vinedresser (The Father) and grapevine (you) is to produce grapes, and pruning is necessary, and only the Master Gardener can do this job! He can cut it out of you without cutting you! It’s for His Glory! 

Let’s Pray: 

Father, Master Gardener, I’m praising You, all the honor and glory belongs to You. Father, You knew me before I was ever a seed in my mother’s womb, and You know the plans that You made me for. You are the only One that can cut me without cutting me, thank You God for being relentless and never giving up on me. Father, forgive me for the times that I pushed back and turned away from this pruning process and went my own way, please forgive me. Father Thank You for one more day to walk and talk with You, I will not take this day for granted! Teach me how to love as You do, as we walk and talk, so that I may live and love as I ought to because I am connected to Your Vine and I want to produce fruit that is good for sustenance and that can only come from You! Thank You for pruning me, cutting the branches off my life that were hindering me from living and producing lasting fruit that brings You total Glory. In Jesus Christ Mighty Name, Amen! 

Blessings…

Minister Jean

James 2:17-19,24,26 NKJV ~ “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. [18] But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. [19] You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe-and tremble! [24] You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. [26] For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

I read a story about a man that was lost in the desert, and he was dying of thirst. Suddenly, he looked up and saw a small house with a well. When he got there the well was not working. Discouraged, he went into the house and there was a jar of water. There was also a note beside it that said, “do not drink this water, use it to prime the pump on the well.” Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies an opportunity.” And Thomas Edison said this, “Most people miss opportunities because it is dressed in work clothes, and it looks like work.” And nobody wants to do the work! 

Jesus went about giving people opportunities to be blessed, but it took faith to act upon His Words. For instance, Jesus did many miracles that involved water, and the water was not to be drank but used to prime the pump for more! Remember, don’t drink any of the water first. Prime the pump with it and you’ll get plenty of water.” It was signed, “Desert Pete.” Faith is to prayer like water is to be priming the pump. You have to activate your faith in order to receive from the Lord. It’s like this, the more you obey God the more your faith increases! 

Have you ever been around a well, sometimes they can run dry and have to be dug out again. And then there are other times when the pump is dry, and you have to pour water to prime it and get the water flowing again. Sometimes you are like that pump, and when the Water of Life is not flowing properly in you, you will run dry. You must drink from the reservoir of Living Water daily and allow the Holy Spirit to rain down on you so that you are not spiritually dried out. 

You need to be primed, so that you don’t get in a rut, because sometimes you can get so caught up in past successes that you forget to prepare for the future. You have been running so hard and fast that you forgot to stop and fill up your tank and now you have nothing left in the tank, so it’s time to prime your pump! This is when you need to stop and come apart and rest awhile, get your refueling, spend some much needed time with your Father listening to Him, a good sermon, worship music, allowing God to stretch you. When you leave you to yourself you will dry out and without a disciplined life, you will produce nothing! This is when you need to let the Holy Spirit reign, which is you allowing His Spirit to prime your spirit, it’s an internal fix and there is nothing you can do to the external to fix you! You must allow the Word of God to speak to you, ask God to send people into your life to stretch you! 

Find yourself a place of solitude where you can sit with your Father and be primed and ready to pump! As you spend time at reservoir with God, He will motivate you by His majesty that is all around and you will start to flow in your daily grind as He graces you for what is next. As you sit you will be reminded of what your Father has been revealing to you about Himself! It’s plain for you to see and hear! This is the priming of your pumps to see God in the unexpected and the extraordinary and it leads you to worship God. It’s in this moment that you are not worried about what anyone thinks about you, your thoughts are on God and God alone! 

It’s in this place of priming that your mind is renewed, and your heart is stirred. It is your time of revival and you being are primed by tears on an altar, a kindling wood to bring fire from heaven. One life can fire up another. The problem is not the Sower or the seed, it’s the soil. If God is not birthing in you a vision, a passion, a growth, and a deeper understanding of grace, it’s not HIS fault, it’s yours. Your soil is hard and rocky, and you need to pull out the weeds, to break up the fallow ground, and water the seed so that you can participate with God in the harvest.

It is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine of life and forget to stop and spend time with your Heavenly Father. For there is always something pulling at you, calling for your attention and it comes in the form of a distraction, it wants to distract you from the end goal, eternity! When you allow sin to drive your life, you are drinking from a broken cistern. In fact, the greater issue is your heart. You need to ask yourself this question, “Is my heart primed and ready to respond to God’s prompting? Am I, by my example, encouraging others to prime their pumps?” For when you are prepared for tomorrow, you allow the waters to continually flow in and through you. And when you fail to prepare for tomorrow, you will eventually dry out and have nothing to offer a lost and dying world! 

You must get before God to seek the mind and will of God. You must be primed so that you can be used for His good pleasure. You must be prepared, so that through your life the living waters can flow to others. I believe any failure to prime your pump and leave something for those who are yet to come will lead to a dry church (people), dusty Bibles, and dirty lives. When people come looking for water, let’s make absolutely sure that the well called “the church” is primed and ready to offer them Living Water. This is a corporate and an individual call. We’re all responsible to leave something behind in order to prime the pump of the future and get it going after we’re gone. If you want revival, if you want to reach the next generation, you need to make sure the pump is primed, and you have water to give to a thirsty world.

Faith is to prayer like water is to priming the pump. You have to activate your faith in order to receive from the Lord. Praying takes faith, just as priming an old pump with the only water around takes faith. How do we activate the faith we have? Let’s look at these four ways.

First ~ Activating your faith starts by asking. Ask! Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8)!

Second ~ Acknowledge God’s Word! Paul says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)!

Third ~ Speak the Word out loud! Activated Faith says aloud, “I’m saved!” I’m rescued!” “I’m delivered!” The truth as God has spoken it to you. Romans 10:8-9: But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The word “declare” means “to say the same thing!”

Fourth ~ Act consistent with the professed faith. Paul tells us “We walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]” (2 Corinthians 5:7 Amplified Bible). What Paul is saying is simple: Walk your Talk! Seeing God’s promises fulfilled is the result of our faith and depends entirely on faith! 

Do you need to Activate your faith to prime the pump of prayer? Do you need your faith to believe for your healing or other answers to prayer? When you pray, just as you would expect water to spring up from a well once you’ve primed the pump, believe that God is going to “supply all your needs” as He promised. And He will!

Let’s Pray:

Thank You, Father, for helping me to walk in love. Because I am born again, I have been born of love. Faith works by love, so I know that if I can’t walk in love with others, there is no way faith is going to work in my life. I will walk in the Word, so that I can be protected at all times and the wicked one will not be able to touch me. Ephesians 6:16 says faith quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one, not part of them, all of them. The devil, I refuse to give you any power in my life! I allow myself to be moved by love and compassion, so that I can be ready to fulfill anything God has called me to do. Thank You Father, for the unmerited favor of Your love. It is because of the faith You created in me that I have been saved, set apart to do Your work, and received Your grace. Through Christ, I have received grace upon grace. Father, I sometimes miss the mark and fall short of Your will. Thank You for the grace you lavish when I falter in my faith. Praise You for grace upon grace. Father, Your will is my desire. I want Your Word on my heart and mind. It is useful for all things in life. Build in me a knowledge of Your will. Make my heart’s desire Your heart’s desire, then I will rejoice in doing Your work. My trust is in You alone. I know You will use every day of my life to show everyone around me Your love and grace. I may have plans, but the plans of God will prevail. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. Father, forever prime the pump of my heart for You. In the Name of Christ Jesus. Amen!

Blessings…

Minister Jean

Romans 1:18-19,25 NIV ~ “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, [19] since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. [25] They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen.”

Today, I want you to pull out your Bibles and study the Word of God! Find and write out scriptures on the truth of God’s Word and make sure that you are writing it on your heart, that you may believe the Word of God! Stop worshipping what has been created and not the Creator. 

God has revealed himself plainly in creation to you. Yet you still reject even the basic knowledge of your Creator and follow the creation instead. God has given you all the evidence to believe in Him and how to live a godly life, but since you continue to want your own way, he will not make you choose Him. So, now you have no excuse, you know the truth, and now you will have to endure the consequences of ignoring the truth! 

God has revealed Himself time and time again in you, He has told you about Jesus and how, your sins can be forgiven and forgotten through Him, you can have a personal relationship with the Father. Paul’s states that no one can claim their own work as good in God’s sight, no one, not even you! All people everywhere deserve God’s condemnation for their sin. Just knowing of God is not enough, you must believe that God loves you and that he sent His Son to demonstrate that love on the Cross Romans 5:8 and you must be shown how to accept God’s forgiveness of your sins because He loves you, Romans 10:14-15!

Today, choose to believe the truth, stop substituting a lie for the truth, in order to support your own self-centered way of living. This is sin, and God cannot tolerate sin because He is holy, and has a perfect nature. He has designed the best way for you to live in harmony with Him and with each other. He cannot and will not ignore or condone willful rebellion! God wants to remove the sin and restore the sinners, Romans 3:23! You cannot reject the truth and then turn to Him for salvation, you must repent first! If you persist in going your own way, then you are pursuing the lie that sin is not serious, and you don’t need God? Sinners must trust Christ alone to deliver them from destruction and put them on the path of salvation! Stop deceiving yourself about Him to merely protect your current way of life. Devote yourself to searching for the truth, and you will find Him. Jeremiah 29:13! 

You do not have any excuse for not believing in God? The Bible gives it to you plainly and God has revealed what He is like in and throughout His creation. So, either you are going to accept or reject God. It’s your choice. You do know that what is temporary will disappear right, none of that stuff will last. It’s like the grass that is here today and withers away tomorrow, Isaiah 40:8. Only what’s for and from God is eternal! When the day comes for God to judge your response to Him, there will be no excuses that you can give; for God has given you everything to help you fully believe in Him. Again, you are without excuse! Stop, rejecting the truth! Thank God as the Creator, Keeper and Sustainer! He made everything including you, your parents didn’t create you, they were just the vehicle God used to bring you here! You belong to God!

What have you made into a god? What have you been idolizing? Are you worshipping what God has made rather than God himself? Can you think of anything that you feel you can’t live without? Are any of your priorities greater than following God wholeheartedly? Do you have a dream that you would sacrifice everything to realize? Let me help you right here, to avoid idolatry from taking you over, check your heart! Your heart needs to see God’s Will and God’s Way as the measuring tool in which you evaluate everything that you do! If what you are doing does not measure up to God’s Word and standards you need to rethink it. (You can only learn this through God and His Word!) I am not saying that the other things are not important, it’s just that they are not more important than God. It just means that all of your life is viewed through God’s perspective and not your opinion! 

God has filled this beautiful world with so many wonderful things for you to have and enjoy. But when you don’t have a relationship with Him; you can fall prey to it all and believe in the lies of that you hear that reinforces your own selfish beliefs! Today, more than ever, you need to be careful about the input that you allow to form your beliefs. With the things you hear and see, on the internet, conversations, commercials, music and movies, so much of it is about glorifying sinful lifestyles and values, and sometimes you can find yourself constantly being bombarded by attitudes and beliefs that are totally opposed to the Bible! Be mindful about what you hear and look at and what influences you allow to form your opinions. God gave you the Bible as the standard of truth on how to live. Evaluate all other opinions in light of it. If you haven’t already, begin today to give your devotion, attention and worship to Him and believe in His Word, it’s the Living Truth and it will teach you how to truly live in the truth!

Let’s Pray:

Thank You Father for the truth of Your Word. Father, open my ears to your Word, so when I hear it spoken aloud, I will receive it with joy. Use it to guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me, Psalm 25:5! Help me to obey your Word so I will fully understand it and be able to move on to maturity in my faith. Thank You Father for the Holy Spirit that helps me to discern and understand Your Word more clearly. Father, put Your Word in me every day so that I will know that I cannot live on bread alone, but by every Word that comes out of your mouth I need, now I can chew on the bread of God’s Word again and again, to get every bit of sustenance out of it. Matthew 4:4! Father, Thank You for ordering all of my steps according to Your Word, Psalm 119:133! Father, thank You for my firm foundation that is found in Your Word, Psalm 119:89! Father, Thank You for Your light on my path that I may walk securely, Psalm 119:105! Father, Thank You for helping me to understand Your Way and Your precepts, for I will meditate on your wondrous works, Psalm 119:27!  Father, incline my heart to Your Word and not to my selfish gain. Keep me on the path for Your Word and not the world. Father, transform me, wash me and cover me in You, Psalm 119:36! Father, turn my eyes away from everything that is not You. Turn me away from looking at worthless things and give me life the way You want me to have. Father, I will set my sight on the treasure and truth of Your Word. Father I know that in Your Word all distractions can be moved, and worthless thoughts can be removed, and my mind will be fixed on what I see in Your Word, Psalm 119:37! Father, cause Your Word to permeate every moment of my day and every corner of my mind. Father, use Your Word to teach me, rebuke me, correct me, and to train me in Your righteousness so that I can be completely equipped to do every good work that You have prepared me to do, 2 Timothy 3:16-17! Father, I will embrace the truth of Your Word and I know that Your Word will cover me in all my ways! Father, I believe in You and Your Word! In The Mighty Name of Jesus Christ. Amen! 

Blessings…

Minister Jean