God’s ‘no’ is not rejection, it is redirection!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

God will always guide and re-direct you exactly where he wants you to be. David said in Psalm 32:8, “God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; God will guide you with His eye.”

God doesn’t want His ‘no’ to break us, but He does want to shape us and lead us to bigger and better things! I know we often think that we know what’s best for us, but the reality is we really don’t. Isaiah offers this sharp empirical reminder in chp 55 verses 8-9, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

My brothers and sisters please make note; God’s ‘no’ is not a rejection, it is a redirection! I hope this message blesses someone today!

Like I always say, “Your greatest blessing is always in front of you-never behind you, so continue moving forward, be blessed on purpose,
and be strong!”

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#GodsNoIsRedirection

In Mark 8:1-10 Jesus took 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish in fed 4 thousands people. But soon after his haters (the Pharisees) demanded that He perform a miracle (vv 11-13), but of course Jesus evaded them like COVID-19 and got back in the boat and crossed over to the other side of the lake (social distance).

But that wasn’t Jesus’ only dilemma in this chapter. Out of the remaining 7 baskets of bread, the disciples managed to only bring 1 loaf (v14) for the next boat ride. Just after realizing they were short some food, Jesus warns them about the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod (v15). This is a topic for another devotion. However, shortly after the disciples began to argue amongst each other because they were hangry!

The Bible says Jesus knew what they were saying (v17), which to me implies that the disciples had one of those low-key arguments. You know like the overt ones you had with one or more of your siblings because y’all didn’t want your mom or dad to hear you!

In verses 18-21, Jesus called them out for bickering and asked them to remember how many baskets was left over after He fed the 5 thousands and just recently the 4 thousands.

How many times have you forgotten the Jesus that rescued you the last time is the same Jesus that can rescue you this time?! Jesus asked them twice, “Don’t you understand yet?”

I don’t know what stopped the disciples from asking Jesus to multiply their one loaf of bread. Perhaps, it’s the same reason why we sometimes get sheepish when it comes to asking God to do the impossible. All I know if that was me in that boat, I would’ve handed that one loaf of bread to Jesus and said, ‘before I break this one loaf of bread to share amongst my brothers and You…..will You please bless it!’

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#OpenUpYourMouthAndAsk

What’s new to us is not new to God, because He knew everyday of our life even before one came to be!

David confirms in Psalm 139:16, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

You might as well give God praise now for what He has already done!

Happy New Year Everyone!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#HNY2022

According to Hebrews 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24, our actual healing took place at Calvary 2,000 years ago. It is faith that we were healed at Calvary that brings the physical manifestation of healing into existence.

The enemy (snake) wants you to believed that supernatural healing isn’t possible! However, I wanted to remind you that before Jesus sent out 72 disciples in Luke 10:1, He said this to them in Luke 10:19, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

The enemy I am referring to is doubt and if doubt sank Peter, then it can also punch holes in our faith as well. Doubt is caustic to true faith.

Jesus gave His disciples many examples of the power of faith and the importance of conquering doubt. Check out what He said in Mathew 21:18-21:

“Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, ‘Let no fruit grow on you ever again.’ Immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither away so soon?’ So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” it will be done’”.

Notice that He said we must have faith and not doubt. That’s a problem with most of us. We may think we have faith, but when the crunch comes, we actually can be crippled by doubt. Doubt is a faith killer.

If this message hits home for you, whenever doubt creeps into your mind, go to God for help to strengthen your faith. You should always refresh your mind with scriptural evidence of God’s sure promises.

Let me close with this powerful confirming and affirming fact: Jesus, bore our griefs, infirmities, sicknesses and pain and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities: the punishment which brought our healing was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

God in Christ JESUS healed every sickness, disease, and infirmity 2,000 years ago at CALVARY!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#Healed2000YearsAgo

The truth is that God the Father has a plan, set in stone, for each and everyone of us.

No one can stop God’s plan for your life or mine not even the enemy and all the forces of darkness (Isaiah 14:27).

God has had a plan for us since before the foundations of the world and the eternal plan for mankind was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.

Because we are united with Christ, we have hope and a future and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Romans 5:5).

Job 42:2 confirms Isaiah 14:27 and Job answered the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted”.

Thwart (stop) means to hinder, obstruct, frustrate or defeat a person plans. Let me be first to remind you including myself that, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against
the LORD” (Proverbs 21:30).

No matter what the enemy is trying to do in our lives to hinder, obstract, frustrate and defeat the plans God has for us, for you and for me, we need to believe in God and
in the promises of God and know that no plan of His
can ever be stopped or thwarted!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#GodIsUnstoppable

Father God, we know that we are entering the very end of time. We know that we cannot find our way through, unless we depend completely upon You.

Lord, unless we fully understand that the message of hope that we are to give the world are not given through our power, but through the power of the Holy Spirit we will limit our effectiveness. Let it be not so!

Lord, we choose to lean and cleave to You as we face so many global catastrophes, so many challenges (social, economical, and medical), so much dissension and difficulty between people. We ask, Lord, that You will capture our hearts, that You will make us truly Your witnesses in these last days.

Lord, draw nearer to us as we humbly submit to you completely! Thank You for the hope we have in Jesus soon return in Christ’s name, we ask it, believe it, and receive it!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#PrayerIsOurWeapon

James affirmed in Chapter 2 verse 26 that deeds (or actions) are the byproduct of a living faith. Works do not justify us or make us righteous before God, nor are they the means to salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). Rather, our deeds are the fruit that grows from one who is obedient to God’s commands and transformed by His grace.

Deeds (or actions) are the outer reflection of an inner transformation process that takes place inside the heart and mind of the believer. They are the evidence of a heart that has been and is continually being transformed and renewed by God (Romans 12:2).

As Christ said, “no good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:43-45).

I invite you to stop waiting for the clock to strike 12AM on 12-31-2021; God ain’t waiting for 2022 to bless you! God can bless and transform a life in a nano seconds! For God, a day is a 1,000 years and a thousands years a day (2 Peter 3:8)! It’s time to get to work because the distance between your dreams and reality (blessing) is action….not time!!

#BeStrong

#TGBTG

#FaithWithWorksIsLife