Blueprint for Life

The Lord has opened the door through a divine connection to a pastor in India for Chad to speak on a zoom call to some of the leaders at the Faith Church.  The time on the flyer below is for India, the service will be Friday July 17th from 10 AM – 11 AM.  They will start with praise and worship, with the message to follow around 10:30 AM.  If you are interested in joining, the zoom information is on their flyer below.  The pastor, David Livingstone, speaks English and will be translating the message for his church.

What Are You Looking At? . . . God’s Word or the World?

Do not let [God’s Word] depart from your eyes.  Proverbs 4:22a

          Words are powerful, as seen in 1 Peter 3:10, “He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.”  James even refers to our words as the rudder of a ship, such a small member that steers the entire ship or body (James 3:4-5).  This is why God said in Isaiah 59:21, “My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth.”  We should be speaking only what God has said whether through His Word or by His Spirit.  Jesus obeyed this by only speaking what the Father told Him to speak (John 12:49).  We can do this also, but we need to understand the process behind what causes us to say the things we speak. 

            Have you ever seen a child fall, cut themselves, and keep playing?  But then once they look at their injury and realize there is a little blood, they start crying and saying they are hurt.  It is almost as if they were being ruled by what their eyes were telling them.  Our eyes are powerful tools that can be used for good or bad.  This is why God tells us in Proverbs 4:20-22, “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.”  God is saying do not remove My words from before your eyes.  This is important because Matthew 6:22 says, “The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.”  Whatever is before your eyes is feeding your whole body / soul / heart.  Whatever is in your heart will come out of your mouth (Luke 6:45).  Whatever comes out of your mouth will ultimately bring life or death into your path (Proverbs 18:21).  We are called to walk in agreement with God (Amos 3:3).  However, we can only do that if our words are lining up with God’s Word.  For this alignment to occur, we need to be in God’s Word daily.  We need to memorize the Word, and we need to be affirming ourselves in areas where what we see may contradict the Word of God. 

Do Not Waver, Continue to Speak God’s Word!

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.    Hebrews 10:23a

            It is no wonder that we are to keep God’s Word before our eyes to illuminate our body and path (Proverbs 4:20-22), because His Word is a lamp (Psalm 119:105).  The issue arises when we remove the Word from before our eyes.  The enemy will throw things before us in an attempt to get you to speak your circumstances and not what God has said.  For example, it is easy for us to memorize and affirm our health by quoting Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24, “By His stripes I am healed!” However, when you wake up with a cough and a tickle in your throat, what do you say?  Do you say oh, I am sick, or do you continue to say, “By His stripes I am healed!”  When you look at your bank account, do you say you do not have any money, or do you quote Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply all my needs…”  When you face a difficult task, do you say I can’t do it, or do you quote Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”  It is easy to speak God’s Word when everything is going well.  However, you must also speak the Word through the trials (James 1:2-4).  You can fertilize your lawn 6 days of the week, but if you spray it with roundup on the seventh it will die. 

            The enemy comes in when we stop speaking God’s Word and start speaking what we see in the world.  This is why Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”  Stay focused on God’s Word, not what is around you.  Hold on to the Word and do not speak anything else.  Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”  James refers to the one that wavers as a double minded person (James 1:6-8).  He even says in verse 7, “Let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”  Commit today to be single-minded, keeping God’s Word before your eyes by memorizing 1 scripture a week, and speaking His Word over every area of your life.

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The video above was played at church on Thursday. In the video, Dutch Sheets shares a prophesy from a woman in Australia. Even though a woman in Australia had the prophecy, it is specific to the United States. Please take 15 minutes to watch this video.

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Pastor Joe brought a message today on how we should respond to the coronavirus. That message can be found at the link above. In summary, Exodus 23:25 says, ” So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. ” Stand upon and speak God’s word! Do not be moved by fear, but walk by faith in what God has already spoken. During this message, Pastor Joe mentioned the video below and encouraged us to take the time to watch it. Have a blessed and prosperous week walking out the word of God!

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Why are Bad Things Happening in the World? (Part 1)

Before I was afflicted I went astray… Psalm 119:67a

          If you watch the news, you will probably see all the bad things that are happening in the world today.  WHY?  It is important to realize that God is NOT the reason for all these bad things.  Jesus was clear in John 10:10, “The thief [Satan, devil] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”  Jesus is not the reason for the stealing, killing, and destroying.  You can also look at John 3:17, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Or 1 John 3:8b, “The Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  From these verses, God had a purpose for sending His Son, Jesus, back to this earth; to save us, make our lives safe and sound, to bring us abundant life, and to destroy the works of the devil.  Nowhere does it say God wants, or is the reason, for bad things.  God loves YOU and wants the best for you!

          James 1:17a says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.”  Every good thing in your life, on this earth, is from God!  If you choose not to walk with God, He will not force Himself upon you.  He will remove Himself.  Imagine every good thing being removed from your life.  This is what Hell will be like.  This is not what God wants.  2 Peter 3:9b says He is, “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  As we repent and obey God’s Word, Psalm 84:11b says, “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”  God will not withhold any good thing from us, if we walk uprightly, obeying God and His Word.  As we do this, His Holy Spirit will warn us of any danger that would cause us to divert or change our path (John 16:13).  If we obey God and His Word, we will be protected.  However, if we walk in sin, we will be afflicted.  Psalm 119:67 says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.”  Psalm 107:17 says, “Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.”

Why are Bad Things Happening in the World? (Part 2)

…I will . . .  heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14b

          If we walk in righteousness, God can and will protect us.  Walking in righteousness is obeying God’s Word.  We must do this in every area of our lives.  When our leaders do something we do not agree with, we should not protest them.  We should not speak badly of them.  We should pray for them.  1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”  We must realize that our battle is not against a person or a group of people.  Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  We can fight in the flesh all we want, but it will be unfruitful and end up causing strife and division.  Jesus gave us authority over all the power of the enemy in Luke 10:19. He did not give us authority over people, but the enemy.  This is great news because our battle is not against people (Ephesians 6:12), it is against the enemy and this battle will be won in our prayer closet.

          When we fight in the flesh we are leaning to 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”  This is fighting with carnal weapons, but 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”  Our weapons and authority are exercised when we humble ourselves and pray.  2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  If we turn from our wicked ways and pray for our country and leaders, God will heal our land.

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Guarding Our Mouths

          We can walk without falling in this world if we learn to control what we speak.  James 3:2b says, “If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”  This is key, because our tongues are able to control our whole body!  James refers to the tongue like a rudder of a large ship.  The pilot can direct the ship wherever he wants it to go from the small rudder.   We should be using our tongues the same way.  If you do not want sin in your life, then start speaking the Word with your tongue.  Affirm yourself every morning.  Memorize and quote Psalm 119:9-11.  “How can a young man cleanse his way?  By taking heed according to Your word.  With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!  Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”  As you are faithful to memorize and speak the Word over your life, your body will come into alignment with what you are speaking. 

          If you are not speaking God’s Word you will reap Proverbs 17:20b which says, “He who has a perverse tongue falls into evil.”  The definition of perverse is “improper, incorrect, turned away from what is right or good.”  So, any time we are speaking something contrary to God’s Word, we have a perverse tongue and can fall into evil?  Actually, Proverbs 17:20 says he falls into evil.  It does not say he can fall into evil.  It says he falls into evil, but this fall can be prevented.  Psalm 141:3 says, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” If we guard our mouths we keep from defiling ourselves also.  Matthew 15:11 says it’s “Not what goes into the mouth [that] defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”  So we can tame our tongues to speak only God’s Word.  Then set a guard over our mouth to not speak anything else.  As we do this we will prevent ourselves from being defiled, falling into evil, or sin. 

Preventing Traps from the Words We Speak

          If we are speaking contrary to God’s Word, we are actually setting traps for ourselves to fall into.  Proverbs 6:2a says, “You are snared by the words of your mouth.”  This same sentiment is echoed in Proverbs 12:6.  “The words of the wicked are, lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright will deliver them.” You may say many bad things and not see anything bad come from it.  However, according to Proverbs 12:6 those words are waiting for the right opportunity to attack you.  For example, say you make a promise to someone, maybe tell your kids that you will take them out for ice cream on the weekend.  The weekend comes, and you forget to take them out.  No big deal right?  Wrong!  Your promise that you spoke is lying in wait for blood.  A broken promise can lead to a lack of trust and maybe even worse.  This principle applies to everything we speak, not just promises.  Proverbs 26:2 says, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.”  So if you speak evil over someone or say “I hope you….”, if that curse is undeserved it just might boomerang back on you because it does not come to rest!

          Genesis 8:22ab says that “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest…. shall not cease.”  Your words are the seed and you will eat of their harvest (Mark 4:14). However, the harvest may not be immediate.  Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”  You will reap what you have sown with your words (Galatians 6:7-9).  The perverse words you have spoken are waiting for blood!  Bind them up in the name of Jesus. Proverbs 12:6 says that “the mouth of the upright will deliver them.” 

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If you missed our service on Thursday, 2/20 it is linked above. We covered scriptures on why bad things happen to good people. Hint, God is not the reason bad things happen, it is our choices (Deuteronomy 30:19). Real life testimonies were shared from John G. Lake and how the Lord gave him revelation that sickness and disease are not from God, but from the Devil. (Acts 10:38 and Luke 13:16) Not only are these things not from God, but Jesus came to destroy these things (Hebrews 2:14 and 1 John 3:8). Chad also shared a personal testimony of how he reaped destruction after not being obedient to the leading of the Spirit.

The scriptures that show the “Good” people of the Bible and the words that they were to obey along with their violation of those words are below. This is why bad things happened to them, it was not because of their righteousness, but because of their sin!

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Your iniquities have separated you from your God; Isaiah 59:2a

          Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  God loves you and nothing can separate you from His love.  There is nothing that you can do, that will cause God to love you less.  He will always love you!  God also says in His Word that He will never leave us or forsake us.  This is first quoted in Deuteronomy 31:6 and can be seen again in Joshua 1:5 and Hebrews 13:5. Then Jesus said in John 10:28b-29, “Neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”  No one, including Satan, can snatch you out of God’s hand, but this verse does not say that you cannot walk out.  God gives you the freewill to make choices for your life.  However, you will reap the consequences (Galatians 6:7-9) of whatever you choose, whether it be choosing God’s will or your will.

          1 Thessalonians 4:3a says, “This is the will of God, your sanctification:” We know according to John 17:17 that sanctification comes through the Word of God, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”  So, God’s will is for us to be sanctified by getting in the word of God daily and obeying it.  Paul goes on to say in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 8, “Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.”  So, if we choose not to obey the Word and be sanctified, we are not rejecting a book, or a rule, we are rejecting the living God!  God still loves us and has not forsaken us, but we have forsaken Him.   We have separated ourselves from God (Isaiah 59:2); from His blessings (Psalm 84:11), from His provisions (Psalm 34:10), His leading (Proverbs 3:5-6), His protection (Psalm 91:9-11), from His presence and manifestations (John 14:21).  Don’t separate yourself with sin.  Walk with God by obeying His Word! 

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If you missed our service on Thursday, February 6th, the video below was played to give you an example of how the Spirit of the Lord can move upon people and to encourage us to not quench the Spirit when He moves and not speak against the move of the Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 says ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies. ²¹ Test all things; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.

Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:28-30, and Luke 12:10 all talk about blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

If you see or hear something you are unsure of, test the spirit. Ask God, “Is this of you? I do not understand what is going on and ask that you give me understanding.”

Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

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…quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].  Ephesians 6:16b

          If we have made a commitment to God, we have made ourselves an enemy of Satan (1 Peter 5:8).  Isaiah 59:15a says, “He who departs from evil makes himself a prey.”  This is not saying we will be killed, but hunted.  It is like we have a target on our backs to Satan.  The enemy / Satan is now strategizing against us.  Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Part B in the amplified translation says, “that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.”  The purpose of his strategies and deceits are to steal, kill, and destroy us (John 10:10).  We are in a spiritual battle! 

          Satan is shooting fiery darts at us (Ephesians 6:16), the amplified calls them flaming missiles.  Picture it like the board game, Battleship.  Battleship is referred to as a strategic, naval warfare game.  We place our boats on a water grid and our opponent does the same.  We take turns calling out squares on the grid to fire missiles to hit and sink our opponent’s battleships.  If our opponent fires a missile and misses us, a white peg is placed in the grid.  We are clean, pure, and holy in that area (James 4:8).  If our opponent hits us [our battleship], we place a red peg there.  This is an area in our life that we need to repent of.  It needs to be covered in the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7).  Like Battleship, if one of Satan’s missiles hits us, he keeps firing around the original missile strike to sink us.  If Satan sees we are weak in an area of lust, he will keep firing in that area until we are destroyed or we deal with it by applying the Word.  For example, standing upon Job 31:1, “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman / man.”  If Satan has had successful missile strikes in areas of your life, search for “scriptures on (lust, forgiveness, greed, envy, etc)”.  Memorize one or more of those scriptures and quote them any time temptation arises.  Make an affirmation and quote it every morning.  As you practice the Word, those missile strikes from the enemy will turn into misses.

…we are not ignorant of his [Satan’s] schemes 2 Corinthians 2:11b

          Battleship is a 2-person game, but our spiritual battle involves more than just 2 people.  Satan is working with his cohorts / demons to devise and execute a strategy.  Do not fear though, the Lord tells us in 2 Chronicles 20:15b, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”  The battle is God’s and Jesus has already won (John 16:33 and 1 John 5:4-5).  We just have to walk in agreement with God and our helpers, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit (John 14:16).  If we are obeying God and His Word, we can stand upon Isaiah 8:10. “Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.”  In righteousness, we can also proclaim 2 Corinthians 2:11, “No advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”  As we obey the Word, Satan’s plans will be thwarted.  No weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17).  Satan will form weapons, but they will not prosper!  

          Obedience to the Word of God is the key to our defense.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says we are to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  Christ here is the Word (John 1:1).  We quench the fiery darts    with our shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16).  “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).  The Word is also the key to our offense.  After all, we are not firing flaming missiles.  Our weapon is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17b).  If the Word is the key to our offensive and defensive attack, it is no wonder that Satan’s main scheme is to get believers out of God’s Word.  God’s Word brings light (Psalm 119:105).  If Satan can keep us out of the Word, then we will remain in darkness stumbling and getting hit by the flaming missiles.  Proverbs 4:19 says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.”  Do not fall into this trap!  Set time aside every morning to read the Word of God.  Then apply and obey what you have read. 

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Magnify the Lord 1

Oh magnify the Lord with me…   Psalm 34:3a

          We are to magnify the Lord.  Psalm 69:30 says, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.”  Acts 10:46a says, “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.”  How can we magnify God?  Is He not already the Almighty?  Yes!  Deuteronomy 10:17 says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.”  We serve a great, mighty, awesome God.  So how can we magnify God if he is already mighty and awesome?  The answer can be found as you define the magnification process.  Telescopes and microscopes each magnify objects.  However, they do it very differently.    A microscope takes a tiny object, like a bug, and magnifies it to appear larger than it really is.  A telescope takes a large object that appears tiny to the unaided eye because it is far away, like a star, and magnifies it to make it appear as it really is.  We are to be telescopes to help people see God as He really is, not make Him larger. 

          If we are walking with God, obeying His Word, there is no need for us to see God through a telescope.  However, the world has chosen to stay in darkness in their sin.  John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  The people that are walking in darkness see God as we would see a star in the sky.  The star may appear tiny, but is actually very large.  Isaiah 59:2 says that “their iniquities have separated them from God and their sins have hidden His face from them.” If we are walking in righteousness with God, we can see Him as He is.  However, the world cannot because of their sin.  Decide today that you are going to surrender your life to God (Romans 12:1-2), seek Him and His Word first daily (Matthew 6:33), walk in the light (1 John 1:7),  and see God as He really is.  Do this and you will be a telescope to magnify God to the world.  So, people can see God for who He really is, a great, mighty, awesome God. 

Magnify the Lord 2

…Understand what the will of the Lord is.   Ephesians 5:17b

          When people are walking in sin, they have separated themselves from God (Isaiah 59:2).  They do not have a true image of who God is.  They are driving down the highway in the opposite direction from God.  Their image of God is seen from their side or rear-view mirror.  In reality God is closer or larger than He appears to them.  Ephesians 4:18-19 says that these people have been “alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”  They are alienated from God because of a blind heart, which is brought on by Satan, the god of this age.  2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”  They are ignorant because they have a lack of the Word (Hosea 4:6).  You can read Ephesians 5:17-18 to further reduce the ignorance.  “Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.  And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”  To prevent ourselves from being ignorant, we must read the Word of God, obey it, be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit will give us revelation on the Word and lead us into all truth (John 16:13).

          As we keep His commandments, He will manifest Himself to us (John 14:21).  As we do the will of God (the Word), He fulfills His promise (Hebrews 10:36).  As we call upon Him in the day of trouble, He will deliver us (Psalm 50:15).  All of these things build testimonies of God’s greatness.  These testimonies are what shows the world who God really is.  Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”  These testimonies glorify and magnify God to the people walking in darkness.  Obey God’s Word and do not be ashamed to be a telescope by sharing of God’s greatness in your life. 

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