July 31, 2014–More Than Sunday School Faith

July 31, 2014 By

copelands(Be blessed by this DWOD for July 31, 2014 by guest contributor Kenneth Copeland)

Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. (2 Peter 1:10)

You shall never fall. When you think about it, that’s a startling statement, isn’t it? Most of us have been tripped up by the devil so many times we don’t like to think about it.

But the Word of God says it doesn’t have to be that way. He says there’s something that can keep us on our feet. What is it? Diligence.

If you haven’t already, you need to realize how important diligence is. You need to face the fact that you simply can’t live a life of victory without it.

You can’t stand strong on the Word of God and not pick your Bible up during the week. Sunday morning alone isn’t going to get the job done. Yet most believers try to get by on that. That’s precisely why we have thousands of churches all over the world filled with born-again people who don’t have enough faith to blow their hats off. No diligence.

I remember several years ago when I ministered to a lady who was healed of cancer. She’d gotten into the Word, taken a stand of faith, and had been delivered. But several years later she called me and said, “Brother Copeland, I wish you’d pray for me. This cancer has come back on me again.”

Right away I recalled the scripture the Lord had given us to stand on those years before: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” So I said, “Get your Bible and let’s go back to Isaiah 54:17.”

In the background I could hear her whispering to someone else in the room, “Where’s my Bible?” When I heard that, I almost cried out. I knew she wasn’t going to make it. Why? No diligence.

Listen, this is a daily thing. The devil’s out there 24 hours a day devising ways to make us fall. Jesus is on the throne 24 hours a day giving us power to resist him, and we need to be exercising our faith all the time.

If you’re going to stand in the days ahead, you’re going to need a lot more than Sunday school faith. You’re going to need some full-grown, mountain-moving faith, and there’s only one way to get that: By giving yourself to the Word more diligently than you ever have before.

Give diligence to make your calling and election sure; and no matter how slippery the situation gets, you won’t have to fall!

(This post appeared first in “From Faith to Faith”, a daily guide to Victory. To subscribe to this daily devotional and access other great resources, please go to www.kcm.org)

Filed Under: Guest Authors

July 30, 2014–It’s Harvest Time!

July 30, 2014 By

fields white harvest“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.” (Matthew 24:36-41)

I believe that we have entered the season of the harvest.  This was brought home to me on my last two ministry trips to Pennsylvania this summer.  God seemed to be declaring the season of harvest all through this journey.  He spoke it to me through nature as I was driving the beautiful roads and highways of that great state.

I spoke at 7 churches throughout PA during July.  Many of the churches were located on corn fields.  In fact the corn was being harvested as we were on that trip.  I got to eat some incredible sweet corn that one of the preachers gave to me.  He has a church in a barn down near Harrisburg.

Four of the churches that I spoke at were located on farms.  Two were renovated barns, one was a farm house and the fourth was a little white church built on the edge of a farm.

As I preached in these places, I kept feeling this was very prophetic.  I kept preaching for the church to rise and shine for their light had come.  I kept commanding the church to arise and to go into the harvest.

Another sign that kept following us was thunder and lightning storms.  In fact two days ago I was driving home from Chambersburg when I encountered perhaps the biggest lightning storm of my life.  Literally there were shots of lightning that would start in the east and go for a hundred miles across the sky to the west.  The Appalachian Mountains would light up before my eyes.  It was a brilliant display of God’s power in nature.

As I witnessed this, in my mind’s eye, I kept seeing the Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro.  I was witnessing in this moment the same kind of lightning I had seen in recent pictures striking that magnificent statue in Brazil which sent pieces falling to the ground.

And then I thought it was not an accident that I was seeing that picture of Jesus’ statue within my mind.  Matthew 24:27 says, “For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

I believe we have entered the season of Jesus coming like lightning into the lives of people in North America and around the world.  Many of them are not even looking for Jesus, but just as lightning at night cannot be ignored, neither will Jesus Christ be ignored by those about to see Him.

He is coming to collect a harvest, to bring His children on to Himself.  He is about to radiate in their lives and they are about to become fanatical Christians willing to lay down their lives for the Kingdom’s sake.  There are some of you even now saying “Oh, I’ve heard this all before.”

To you who would say this, let me share John 4:35: “Do you not say, ‘there are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”

I tell you to get off of your chairs and go outside of your door and start hollering the name of Jesus on the top of your lungs.  You will be surprised at the evidence of salvation that will come to you.  People will get saved in the streets if you just believe.

Two people will stand together.  You will share the gospel with both.  One will receive and the other won’t, but by the time you are done preaching thousands will have come into the Kingdom.  So, get going. God will meet you in the harvest field and be your sickle.

Filed Under: Pastor Darren Canning

July 29, 2014–Signs and Wonders Following

July 29, 2014 By

Darren Canning July 2014And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18)

The expectation that God is going to move and touch lives is the fuel that propels me into the harvest field.  I know that when I step out in faith, God is going to do something.  It isn’t about me, as if by some strength of my own a person might be touched by God and healed, but it is the knowledge that God moves that carries me into unknown lands and realms.

This past weekend I was in Southern Pennsylvania preaching in corn fields, prophesying on mountain tops and driving through lightning storms.  God met us there.  We saw many signs follow the preaching of the word.  People who were sick were healed, those oppressed by the devil were delivered and many saw the glory of God.  His presence came like waves of peace into rooms which were packed with people hungry for an encounter with the Lord.

The first church that I went to there was a preacher man there who since the age of 17 has been bound to a wheel chair.  As soon as I saw him I felt a kindred spirit.  There was a pureness of heart that could be seen in the windows of his soul.  He played the harmonica and worshipped the Lord.  He would get words of knowledge for healings and people would get healed.

There was favour as I preached on this trip.  People responded to the word and wanted me to pray for them.  I felt the Lord wanted to touch bodies for healing and so I had everyone who had pain stand and asked those around them to lay hands on them.  More stood than what I expected.

I then called some people to the front.   One lady who looked oppressed of the devil said that her back was in very bad shape.  She had pain for three months.  I could sense that there was a spirit holding back the healing, so I rebuked it.  I did this three times but there wasn’t much change and so I moved on to other people.

After about 10 minutes I looked over and saw the hand of God touch her.  It was like a wave of peace struck her.  She started to glow under the Holy Spirit.  There was a bubble of joy all around her.  I said, “You have been touched, haven’t you?”

The oppression around her eyes was gone.  She said, “Yes.”  She started to dance on the spot and rejoice.  Such liberty was now in her heart.

If you will extend yourself for Christ, He will move.  In fact, faith has a way of pushing God to do which you can only see Him do when you go.

If you are waiting for some magical hour to come when you will go, I say to you “now is the time,” so “go.”  Don’t be a general who sits in a pew never doing anything, but go into the world and collect a harvest.  Go and see what God will do.

I pray for you today.  I ask the Lord to strengthen your faith so that you can step into action.  May all that is stopping you fall away today and may hope arise as you step out.  I ask the Lord to add to your faith signs and wonders following that many hearts might be touched by the power of God flowing through you.

Filed Under: Pastor Darren Canning

July 28, 2014–Six Secrets to Overcome Sin–Part 2

July 28, 2014 By

ShyjuMathew2(Be blessed by this DWOD for July 28, 2014 by guest contributor Shyju Matthew)

We trust you were blessed by yesterday’s post. We continue with Secrets 4, 5 & 6…

4. What You Feed Everyday is What Will Rule Over You Everyday!

No matter how incredibly anointed you are, if you feed your flesh, you will fall into sin.

Solomon is the best example of such folly. He knew everything, he even had an encounter with God, twice!! And, we all know the end of his story.

Ever wondered why you are too tired to pray? Distracted to read the Bible? Struggling to hear from God? Your flesh is too strong over your spirit.

You cannot feed your flesh with the things of the world and not expect your flesh to subdue your desires of the spirit.

What must you do?

–Consistently resist every infiltration of satan that tries to subdue the work of the Spirit of God.

–Draw lines with friends that feed your heart with sin and the thoughts and imaginations of sin. Be humble and loving but make it clear that your heart and mind is not the garbage of this world.

–Ignore sinful media. “Which celebrity is going out with whom?” “Who slept with whom in Hollywood?” “Who did what and how in your church!” How are those details going to help your heart be tuned with God? Quit now. Don’t feed your flesh. Get off those TV channels.

–Feed your spirit. Read things that fuel you for God. Watch videos that restore your love for Jesus. Read your Bible like it was your only meal. Pray without ceasing.

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” (Mark 14:38)

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18)

“I pray that He would give you inner strength and power through His Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:16)

“… But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, … Furthermore, continue to pray in the Holy Spirit.” (Jude 1:20)

Those are just a few tips, I’m sure you get the idea!

5. Understand Grace Wholeheartedly

The idea of grace is not only one of the most powerful life-changing revelations to a believer, but also one of the most abused because of certain wrong teachings. Grace is not an excuse to sin, it’s an empowerment to get you back up to the throne.

Understand that it’s all by His mercy and allow the understanding of grace to empower you to get back on your feet and not lie in sin. Get it?

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1)

Please hear me: “Falling in sin is human. Living in sin is abuse of grace. Rising up from sin is understanding Sonship. And living in pursuit of God is legacy.”

6. Finally, last but not the least, simple to understand, yet somehow not practised: Confess Your Sins and Turn Away From It.

Sin multiplies in the dark. To disentangle from sin, expose it to the Light of God. Don’t wait for a week to confess your sins to Jesus. Confess your sins right then and there. Expose your sins to your accountability partner. Expose it to your mentor. Expose it to your spouse. Pray together for restoration. At the feet of Jesus there is mercy and grace.

I conclude with reminding ourselves once more that our Commander waits for us. To send us out to the Nations for His glory!

Therefore: “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2Timothy 2:4)

Are you pleasing Jesus today? Start now!

(Born in India and presently living in Montreal, Canada, Revivalist Shyju Matthew continues to demonstrate God’s mighty Word through the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in crusades and conferences all over the world. This post first appeared on his blog Guarding The Heart)

Filed Under: Guest Authors

July 27–Six Secrets to Overcoming Sin–Part 1

July 28, 2014 By

pizza fast(Be blessed by this DWOD for July 27, 2014 by guest contributor Shyju Matthew)

The issue of sin is something that a Jesus lover cannot afford to ignore. That’s because our Master said, “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.”

Becoming sin-conscious certainly does not help anyone overcome sin. But what does help is becoming aware of how our flesh reacts and responds. Knowledge in itself does not set us free, but it shows us clear paths to eliminate distractions.

I want to share with you 6 secrets to overcome sin, obviously not as one who is perfect, but as someone learning to love Jesus one day at a time.

1. Don’t Blame Someone Else for Your Sin

The Blame Game started in the garden of Eden with the fall of man. The more we shift blame, the less we take responsibility and the harder it becomes to overcome sin.

Adam blamed God for giving him a woman who would make him sin. Eve then blamed the serpent for all the evil (Gen 3:12).  This blame game continues today as an easy response to the carnal nature in us.

Wholehearted repentance starts when you take full responsibility for your shortcomings. So take responsibility for life and get things straight, the best is ahead of you!

2. Don’t Blame the Devil Either!

Like Eve, most Christians love blaming the devil.

Now it is true that the enemy does bring temptations to destroy a child of God. However let us not forget the foundational truth that the enemy is under our feet through Christ!

I was struck by this paragraph from Gill’s exposition of the Bible:

“…the woman’s seed, ‘shall bruise thy head’ (Genesis 3:15); and which has had its accomplishment in Christ, who has not only destroyed the works of the devil, but the devil himself, and spoiled the principalities and powers, and bruised him and them under His feet, when he led captivity captive; and though, for the trial of the graces of his people, Satan is permitted to attack them in various shapes, yet in a short time he will be bruised under their feet, as he is already under their Lord and Master’s.”

The knowledge of how the enemy is powerless does nothing to you. But when that knowledge becomes a revelation in your spirit through pursuit of God, then there will be a massive empowerment from God that will release the grace of God on you to overcome all the wiles of the enemy.

It’s time we quit making the devil more powerful than he actually is.  Resist the devil & he must flee! Time to resist! Are you on it now?

3. Don’t Reason or Argue With Sin

This is one area where I have failed a million times. So often we think we are good enough to out-smart sin. However God is clear about the power of sin over the fallen nature of man. You can never overcome sin in your own strength, that’s why the Bible is clear—FLEE ! (2Timothy 2:22) Therefore it is not wise for a child of God to go for a fist fight with sin as it will cause you to fall. The solution is simple, flee! Flee sin and then resist the devil.

Don’t try to master sin in the name of resisting the devil. These are two different things. Fleeing sin is the tangible part of the obedience to Jesus, resisting the devil is the warfare in the invisible realm. So you flee in obedience first and then when you are far from it, then you try to overcome it.

To put it in one line: You cannot hold yummy pizza in your hands and expect God to give you grace to fast! Flee first!

Show no mercy to sin! Enough said.

Don’t miss secrets 4-6 in tomorrow’s DWOD!

(Born in India and presently living in Montreal, Canada, Revivalist Shyju Matthew continues to demonstrate God’s mighty Word through the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in crusades and conferences all over the world. This post first appeared on his blog Guarding The Heart)

Filed Under: Guest Authors

July 26, 2014–Follow-Through Prevents Falling Through

July 28, 2014 By

baseball swing follow-throughIn the summer of 1981, the United Church of Canada sent me on a four month internship to two churches in Northern New Brunswick.

My living quarters during this stint was a cute little one-bedroom house located right on the premises of Upsalquitch United Church. It was also a gathering place for the children of the village who would come every day after school looking for the student minister.

Of course, they were not content to simply sit and chat. They were used to being active. One day they suggested that we could have a game of softball soon. So I went to Campbellton and picked up a glove. (Did I tell you that I did not tell them that I’d never played softball before in my life?)

The next day came…everyone showed up with their gloves. Play Ball! Soon it was my time to bat. The pitcher lobbed the softball in my direction. It looked about the size of a Florida grapefruit. I swung the bat as best as I could and made contact. The ball was in play heading toward third base.

So far so good, right? I started running toward first base. (Did I tell you that I’d never played softball before in my life?) All I could hear was the sound of laughter as they watched me run for my life with the bat tucked under my arm. My cover was blown.

The interesting sidebar is that they were too busy laughing at my faux pas, that I made it safely to first base. My first ever hit. Wow!

Once their bellies had ached enough, one of the boys was kind enough to teach me what to do with the bat after one hits the ball…and a few other elementary principles of hitting.

The main thing I learned from this quickie lesson was the emphasis on the Follow-Through of the swing. He demonstrated how when you follow through properly, the ball travels farther. Otherwise, I would continue to hit little nubbers with a poor excuse of a swing that stopped once contact was made between the bat head and the ball.

Those of you who are golfers understand what the follow-through is all about too, don’t you? Making contact with the ball is great. But the ball is not likely to go too far unless you follow through with your swing!

One of the greatest joys of serving Jesus is helping those who do not know Him as Lord and Saviour to make a personal commitment to follow Him. But, we need to realize that this is simply the point at which the bat head makes contact with the softball.

It is our responsibility as those who “make disciples of the nations” to carry on with the Follow-Through process. This may entail several visits over a cup of coffee or a meal where you answer questions and teach basic things such as how to read the Bible and how to pray. It could mean that you take them with you wherever you go and show by example how to live as Jesus did. You may need to keep in touch with them over the phone or social media every day, sometimes several times every day.

All this Follow-Through will prevent that newly minted believer from falling through the cracks. And your impact upon their lives will be way more than you could ever ask or imagine. Some of the people you mentor/parent will exceed your expectations and make you go “Wow!” Who knows what would’ve happened had you not taken the time and the effort for the Follow-Through?

Dear DWOD friend, please make sure that whenever God gives you the opportunity to make contact with someone that you also Follow-Through. It is a surefire way of preventing newbies from falling through the cracks.

Filed Under: Pastor Jeeva Sam

July 25, 2014–Asking for Help activates Hope

July 26, 2014 By

helpPlans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22)

(Thanks to DWOD subscriber Jewelcy Jawahar for forwarding this story in an e-mail. FYI, Jewelcy and I were classmates from Grades 1-5 at Morton English Primary School in Nagercoil, India.)

A farmer died leaving his 17 horses to his three sons. When his sons opened up the will, it read:

My eldest son should get 1/2 (half) of the total number of horses, my middle son should be given 1/3 of the total horses and my youngest son should receive 1/9 (one-ninth) of the total.

Since 17 is indivisible by 2, 3 or 9, the three sons started to fight with each other. With such a mathematical impossibility staring them in the face, they gave up hope of ever honouring their father’s will on their own.

In desperation, they decided to seek the counsel of a farmer who was considered to be quite smart, to see if he could work it out for them.

The farmer friend read the will patiently. After giving it some thought, he got one of his farm hands to bring over one of his own horses. That increased the total to 18 horses.

Then he began to divide the horses according to their father’s will.

Half of 18 = 9. So he gave the eldest son 9 horses. 1/3 of 18 = 6. So he gave the middle son 6 horses. 1/9 of 18 = 2. So he gave the youngest son 2 horses.

As you can see, 9+6+2 add up to 17. This left one horse, which was the farmer’s to begin with. The farm hand took it back to its stable.

Problem Solved!

One thing I have been stressing to couples who go through the marriage preparation process with me is this: “Do not hesitate to ask for help when you run into trouble.”

The worst thing you can do when you have a problem and cannot figure out a solution is to keep it to yourself. Yes, you need to try on your own first. In a marriage, a husband and wife must do all they can to work things out—individually and collectively.

But when your best efforts do not produce results, you could be tempted to give up hope. You could even come to the conclusion that there is no solution to your problem except to get a divorce.

This is when you need to look beyond yourself to someone else. You are so locked up in your problem and your unsuccessful solutions that you cannot see anything else.

Someone looking at your issues from the outside can see things that you cannot see, simply because you are too close to the problem! The brothers in this story were so caught up in the indivisibility of 17 by 2, 3 and 9 that they could not see a way out.

But when they sought the help of their farmer friend, they opened themselves up to the possibility of a solution. Where there was only despair in the air, now there was hope.

Dear DWOD friend, on the road to your destiny, you too will run into situations where you will find yourself frustrated with your inability to solve a problem. Do not despair. If you look around, you too will discover that God has already placed others around you who can come up with a solution to your problem.

The moment you choose to ask for help, you step out of the solitary cell of despair and into the hallway of hope. Now it is just a matter of knocking on a door and discovering that 17 is not indivisible after all!

Filed Under: Pastor Jeeva Sam

July 24, 2014–Hearing and Doing Like Jesus

July 25, 2014 By

Darren July 2014“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-15)

Leaning on God for the wind in our sails is the most important thing in the Christian’s life.  We can try forever to make things happen or we can rest in the assurance that God is going to make things happen.

Many years ago the Lord said to me “You see that chair over there?”

I said, “Yes, I do Lord.”

He said, “I want you to go and sit in it until I tell you to get up and go do something.”

I was stunned. I was not used to obeying the voice of God. To tell you the truth, I was a bit of a workaholic.  I was used to doing, doing and doing some more.  So when God said to me “Go sit in that chair and wait”, it felt like He was saying that I would never do anything ever again.

Well, that was many years ago now and I continue to learn the lessons from that experience with God.  There are many times I have done things where I wonder if it was me or if it was God who chose to do it. But then there have been many times that I have stepped out in His voice and have seen great fruit.

We have heard it said many times that Jesus did only what the Father told Him to do.  I used to struggle with this scripture in John 5:19.  I have heard many preachers try to explain this to me.  One preacher said, “Jesus used to spend many hours on the mountain top on His knees in prayer.”  His assumption was that from this place of reverence the voice of God came into Christ’s ears.

But the truth is we don’t really learn too much about the internal life of Christ in Scripture.  We don’t really know how He heard from the Father.  We certainly know that He prayed and fasted.  We pick up bits and pieces from the stories that were told of Him.

We know that He responded to the enemy with the word of God in the wilderness, therefore He must have meditated upon it (Matthew 4:1-11).  The word of God He hid in His heart that He might not sin against His God (Psalm 119:11).

He also taught His disciples how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13).  The “Our Father Prayer” is a wonderful prayer that I have heard many preachers say is a synthesis of the way Christ prayed.  It is simple and to the point but it must be a prayer with intention and understanding.  It is a prayer that we can meditate upon the rest of our lives and still only glimpse its foundations. Yet, its perfect simplicity even a child can understand.

What I have come to learn through the word of God is that we come to understand the mind of Christ through the Holy Spirit, who is the Helper leading us into the thoughts and imaginings of our God (John 16:12-15).  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the lights come on and God’s voice becomes clearer in our hearts.  We recognize God by the way He speaks, which lacks confusion and is imbued with peace.

As I remain in the vine, obeying the voice of God, and as I lay down my right to “do”, and only do what I am told by God to do, then His peace and glory weighs more heavily on my life.

God will speak in many ways and it is too much for me to include my understanding of this here.  My book, “The Science of Prophetic Ministry” covers this topic well.

I pray that you will be filled afresh today with the presence of God and His voice becomes clearer in your heart.  May the peace of Christ weigh heavily upon you and may God’s glory shine through your very eyes.

Filed Under: Pastor Darren Canning

July 23, 2014–What You Focus on Matters

July 25, 2014 By

doug addison(Be blessed by this DWOD for July 23, 2014 by guest contributor Doug Addison)

How you view a situation is vital. If you continually focus on what is wrong or the reasons why you can’t do something, you eventually convince yourself that you can’t change the situation, whether it is based on fact or not. There is a spiritual principle that what you focus on continually eventually comes to you.

If you search for good, you will find favour; but if you search for evil, it will find you! (Proverbs 11:27 NLT)

We can create self-fulfilling prophecies about ourselves and our situation based on what we focus on. You may not be seeking evil intent, but this verse in Proverbs shows that you get what you search for or put your energy into. If you continually think that you are a failure, then you probably fail often, at least in your own mind.

We can derail our destiny by focusing on negative things. We also can get weighed down with emotional baggage that we may not know is there. For instance, if you have a large amount of debt and you are continually thinking about how bad being in debt feels, most likely you will carry the stress of the situation with you through your entire life. It is like a weight around your neck and can bring shame and even hopelessness.

A solution is to decide right now that you will put a debt reduction plan in place and get on with life. Place the feelings of failure and shame in God’s hands, and begin to put your thoughts and energy into finding creative ways to earn additional money. Have fun in the process and you will have instant change!

Have you ever thought someone did something wrong to you? Did you get angry and hurt only to find out when you talked to the person that they had no bad intentions at all? What happened to your hurt and anger? It went away immediately because you were no longer focused on it, and you got a new perspective. We can train ourselves to get a new perspective on everything that happens to us.

Learning to change your perspective is a step toward renewing your mind as mentioned in Romans 12:2 (“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind”). We can choose to focus on good things, and if we do this regularly, our outlook on life will change dramatically. We will begin to see the positive in the midst of difficulty.

Where your focus goes, your energy flows.

Decide ahead of time what you are going to focus on. With just a small amount of effort, you can learn to turn bad situations into good ones. You can learn to make the most of every situation. It is not worth getting upset! Some people say life is too short to be upset or angry. I have always thought that life is too long to do it as well.

Enjoy life by focusing on all the good!

(Doug Addison is a prophetic dream and tattoo interpreter, conference speaker, author, life coach and stand-up comedian. He travels worldwide, helping people transform their lives and discover their destiny. Doug specializes in teaching people how to hear God’s voice, understand their dreams and tattoo evangelism)

Filed Under: Guest Authors

July 22, 2014–See Yourself Strong

July 23, 2014 By

see yourself in the mirror(Be blessed by this DWOD for July 22, 2014 by guest contributor Gloria Copeland)

And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33)

How does the devil see you? Does he see you as a terrifying and mighty warrior of God…or does he see you as a wimp he can whip in a minute?

The answer to that question depends on you. I realized that one day as I was studying the children of Israel and their failure to enter the Promised Land. The key to their failure is found in these words: “And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in theirs.”

The reason the Israelites were so terrified to fight the giants in Canaan wasn’t because those giants were so big. It was because the Israelites saw themselves as so small! It was what they were in their own sight that defeated them.

The same thing is true for you as a believer. It’s what you are in your own sight that will make the difference.

If, in your own sight, you’re a weak, powerless Christian, the devil will run over you three or four times a day or more if he’s not busy.

But when you begin to see yourself as God sees you, as a conquering son or daughter of the Almighty God equipped with the very power of God Himself, the devil will want to steer clear of you.

The devil would rather do anything than come against somebody who’s bold and courageous, because he’s a coward himself. In fact, ever since Jesus came up out of that grave, satan’s heart has melted within him at the sound of that Name in the mouth of one who has faith in it.

If you’re not strong in the Lord in your own sight, you need to change that. You need to get so full of God’s Word and so full of the Holy Ghost that you walk around like a spiritual giant. Turn the tables on the devil and let him find out what it feels like to be a grasshopper for a change.

(This post appeared first in “From Faith to Faith”, a daily guide to Victory. To subscribe to this daily devotional and access other great resources, please go to www.kcm.org)

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