Victory–Even If We’re Cornered!

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. I Corinthians 15:57,58 NIV

You know that rat–when boxed into a corner and there seems to be no way out–it fights for its life and depending on what it’s fighting, will be victorious.

Now, don’t get me wrong–I’m not saying we are rats–but we should certainly have the mindset of one–believing for victory even when we’re cornered and there seems to be no way out. The biggest difference between us and the rat in the fight–we have Jesus on our side and there is sweet, sweet victory in Jesus–and we conquer everything the devil throws our way!

So, just a few words to encourage your hearts no matter how life seems to be treating you.

Think victory–and proclaim The Word over every aspect of your life and those you love.

Refrain from the very appearance of evil or wrongdoing and the shut the devil’s mouth.

Do good to all and for all people and watch the devil cringe.

Know how the enemy operates–he’s looking for a way to influence what you think and do, don’t give him an opportunity, think on those things that bring God glory and only do those things.

Celebrate the victory even when you feel defeated–feelings change so change them–Feel The Victory and Praise God for it.

Today–all day long–and every time I rise–no matter what is going on in my life–I’m praising God for the victory and doing my victory dance.

Join in the victory celebration and dance! Hallelujah!

 

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What The Entrance Should Be!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs, Know that the Lord is God, It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100 NIV)

When we come into His presence (and not just the church building), we should be shouting for joy, worshipping Him with gladness, coming before Him with joyful (not sad) songs, knowing the Lord is God.  Hallelujah!

It is He who made us (we didn’t make ourselves no matter what we think) and we are His–His people, the sheep of His pasture and He is our great Shepherd.

Getting into the presence of God is a matter of re-thinking who we are and acknowledging who He is. We enter into His presence with thanksgiving. Now, since He is God and He is omnipresent, His presence is everywhere–not just where we relegate Him. I’m inclined to think that many of the church’s ills that exist today, exist because we have relegated God to a specific location and a specific time and we don’t acknowledge Him outside of that. This is an attitude and perception that must be laid to rest.

If Holy Spirit resides in me, then I am always in God’s presence and should always be mindful that I am. If I am mindful of this one thing–He is with me–always–I would pay more attention to the things I do. So, would we all. If we all reached the same conclusion, then we could eradicate sin–especially in the church–and become a model for others so they too would be able to Enter Into His presence–daily.

When we first open our eyes–we should give thanks–because He didn’t have to allow us to wake up. Some may say their alarm clock wakes them, but many alarm clocks have sounded the alarm, but the bodies who set–never rose again. It is He who wakes us and gives us the strength of our limbs and a reason to praise. Enter In!

If we stop and think about all He has done, all He is doing, and all He will do on our behalf, we should break into a song of gladness–full of life and a beat so intense we can’t keep our feet still. Enter In!

No matter how short we fall of being perfect and faithful, He is always perfect and faithful to us–no matter what we do–we will never stop His faithfulness. Even when we cause Him to be sad over our behavior, He loves us enough to wait for us to get it right, never leaving or forsaking us. We’ll never be abandoned by God! Enter In!

Songs of worship–letting Him know we know–just how much He loves us and how much He cares for us–are more like a melodic love song–songs filled with so much love that tears fall with the revelation of that love.

Songs of praise–are like a testimony in rhythmic beat–livelier than worship, igniting movement–stomping our feet or dancing, clapping our hands, shouting the victory in praise of Him.

Sometimes our prayer life–especially when we pray in the spirit–using the prayer language He’s given us that no man can understand–becomes a chant–a song all by itself and that’s okay. We know we’ve entered in when we allow Holy Spirit to take over and when He’s finished, hearts are lighter, visions clearer, and for most of us–that can do anything but fail mode comes upon us and we are ready for the world. Enter In!

All of this–worship, praise, dancing in the spirit on the altars of our hearts–is how we should enter into His presence on a daily basis.

Why All The Noise?

“Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.” (Isaiah 43:13 NIV)

Once the Prophet Isaiah has assured the children of Israel will not allow them to go hungry or die of thirst or heat from the sun, he infers that even the heavens, all the earth, and the mountains should praise the Lord for His compassion and comfort of those who have been persecuted.

The same God, who would not leave His chosen people to their own devices, loved them in spite of them and after a time–giving them room to reflect upon their behavior–He still decided to make sure they had everything they needed and would be saved their persecutors. The same God–will do the same those of us who have chosen Him–and He has received us unto Himself. He will not allow us to suffer lack when we obey Him.

We can look around us and see those who have chosen to live in opposition to His Word and know that their end–will not the same as those who live according to His Word. God is not mocked and He will not bless mess, corruption, rebellion, and disobedience. People may think they’re getting away with something, but they are not. And when we understand this, we can keep our faith moving forward, not focused on the foolishness of man, but on the mercy, grace and love of God who will redeem us from the hands of the enemy.

Shout for joy all you people who love The Lord! Sing praises unto Him who loves us in spite of us and will not allow us to suffer lack. Dance in the victory of being an overcomer for we shall overcome all the enemy puts in our path to defeat us–we are more than conquerors. We have a right to make “some noise” over all He is doing for us and will do when we allow Him to guide us in all things! Hallelujah!

I don’t know about you, but when I think about Jesus and all He has done, I could dance, dance, dance, all day! Singing a new song, from the depths of my soul as my heart rejoices in His goodness and mercy that endures forever!

Are you ready? Shout in the name of Jesus! Hallelujah! Glory to Your Name, Lord!

Dancing With The Devil! (Part 2)

We tend to wonder why—young girls become drunks or alcoholics—never understanding what led to their behavior. Someone invited the devil to the dance and he led the dance, to his tune.

We tend to judge the behavior of others without really knowing or understanding how a person got to the place where they are. We didn’t or don’t know—the circumstances under which they were encouraged to dance—the devil’s dance—and saw no way out.

It’s time we either show others how to allow Jesus to cut into the dance or encourage them to leave the dance hall. When Jesus enters into the dance, the devil has to flee, but we don’t have to follow Jesus’ lead. He allows us to choose the rhythm and beat to which we’ll dance and if we choose to follow the devil’s lead, He’ll let us.

In order to stop the music the devil has implanted in our minds, we must submit to God—totally yield our thoughts and will to Him—resist the devil’s influence by walking off the floor and then watch him run, when the beat moves into holiness—a tune he cannot stand.

So while we enjoy watching others dance to the tunes they hear, we must be careful that we don’t allow the tune the devil plays to influence us by allowing him to lead in the dance. Don’t be fooled. The devil only knows one two-step: deception and manipulation—he’ll deceive with his charisma and manipulate you into thinking he actually knows how to dance. He will convince with each turn and dip—his ability to be smooth, when every step he takes—leading you—is a lie and he’s leading you astray. He’ll persuade you to—live like you want to live—it’s your life and nobody else’s business. He’ll tell you that, “trying drugs won’t hurt you;” he’ll justify being a thief, a liar, an abuser, a sex addict, or anything else that keeps you from being blessed by God.

Are you still allowing him to lead?

Need another dance tune? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that all who believed in Him would not perish, but have eternal life.” The devil hates that tune as much as he hates you—so don’t dance with him—give your life to The Lord and allow Him to lead you in the dance of life—positioning you to be blessed in all things!

 

Joyful Heart!

“Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing” (Psalm 100:2).

With our whole hearts, and joy overflowing, we should be glad to serve the Lord!

If we cannot think of anything else for which we should be glad, we should be glad that He loved us enough to die for us–so we would have access to heaven.

For whom we truly love, we serve with a joyful heart and are glad to have the opportunity to serve. Hopefully, this is our attitude towards spouses, children, other family members and friends–who we claim to love. It is extremely difficult to “serve” someone when a person does “have” any love for them.

We say we love the Lord. Are our hearts full of joy? Are we glad to serve Him in whatever capacity He has called us? Do we have the audacity to burst into song at any given time–just because we love to serve Him? If we serve Him because of our relationship with Him, doing what He has called us to do, brings joy to us and others. There is no hardship in serving the Lord, even though the enemy is always on the attack, we know that the Lord has never forsaken us and when we are doing what He has destined us to do, He will get the glory!

It’s shouting time! Hallelujah! Don’t look back–look forward and be glad He has called you into service and let your heart overflow with the joy serving Him brings! Bless The Lord! It’s time for a praise dance–excuse me while I sing His praises as I move along this morning! Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!

 

Soul Lifting!

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God” (Psalm 42:11 NKJV).

What happens to us when our souls are cast down? You know, that inner man/woman, that will be judged for all eternity. Why should we be concerned about the troubles of the world and allow those troubles to change our attitudes and the looks on our faces? The answer quite simply is, we should never allow the world’s troubles to cause us to look like we have lost hope in God.

When things get so chaotic that you allow the frustrations to get you down, remind your soul–Soul, Soul, our hope is in God and there is nothing that He cannot fix.

When children/grandchildren get out of hand, remind your soul–Soul, Soul our hope is in God and in His strength I will be the Godly parent or grandparent I need to be.

When a doctor brings you a negative report and your countenance falls, remind your soul–Soul, Soul- our hope and trust is in God and our entire body is healed by His stripes and nothing shall by any means, harm us.

No matter what happens, remind your soul that while all the stuff going on around you is out of your control, it is within God’s control and you can praise Him, smile, and laugh at the devil who wanted you to cry and pout! Laugh out Loud! Praise God! Hallelujah, Glory to God! God is able! No weapon formed against me shall prosper! I can do all things through Him who loves me! There is nothing to hard for God, absolutely nothing! I am a child of the most High King and I am all that He has said I am! I am never defeated because of His love! I am always victorious in all things! God is my shield and my banner, in Him will I trust!

Sing a lively praise song, loud and long, whenever things in life attempt to get you down! Don’t know any! Turn up the radio to contemporary Gospel and sing-a-along! Can’t sing? Dance to the music! Lift up your heads, O you servants of the Lord, and sing His praises loud enough for the sound to reach the heavens and see God smiling at you!

Feel like dancing yet? I do! Hallelujah for our risen Savior!

And remember this, “When nothing else would help, Love lifted me!”

God loves us and only wants the best for us–receive and act like you have everything you need!

The Last Dance

Sometimes, as we get older we tend to look backwards and reminisce about the things we used to do.

 

Remembering when we…had our first kiss, our first real jewelry, our first everything and that first dance with the love of our lives. Remembering the place, the song, the mood-we take a quick journey back in time. Sometimes, we get so caught up in the past we forget about the here-and-now which causes problems for our future. Sometimes, we look backwards and begin to have thoughts of regret. Sometimes, in our backward glance, we discover we didn’t really like ourselves at all. And sometimes, we wish we could have changed much sooner than we did. Sometimes.

 

Sometimes, even when we reach that “golden time” in our lives where some would just give up on dreams, some of us–reach out even further into the future. We look ahead, not behind. We seek to accomplish every dream or goal ever set. We understand better than ever that time is not to be wasted, thinking about things that cannot be changed, but thinking about how we change what we can to make our tomorrow even better. It’s okay to remember the first dance, but it’s better to look forward to the last dance.

Always Thinking and Writing: The Last Dance

Always Thinking and Writing: The Last Dance.