MIND OF TRUTH

I have a coffee cup on me desk that says "Choose This Day". Joshua gives Israel this option in Josh. 24:15 "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." We have to make the choice everyday. Will we serve the Lord or will we serve ourself? I like what Elijah says to the people on Mt. Carmel in I Kings 18:21 "Elijah went before the people and said, 'How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.' " . I need to ask myself and you the same question. If God is God then serve him. Make the choice each day to serve Him with all your heart. Don't waver between two worlds trying to serve your self and God. We tend to cling to God when we need Him a

Some friends of mine gave me a few TD Jakes CDs for Christmas. I wonder if they know how much that gift was divinely timed by God to speak courage to my heart as I faced some real battles this past month. One thing we have to learn as believers is that our God will never leave us or forsake us. In fact, He is way ahead of us preparing the way. The next time you feel alone in a barren place in your life, take a minute to look around. God has already given you the help you need to find your way out. He has already given you provision and strength for the battle to come. You may not feel that or see His provision, but when you step into battle and that first blow comes, you will see it deflected by the shield you didn't know was in your hand. God is there. He is fighting for you. Trust in Him. Believe that He will raise up a standard against the enemy at the right moment. Anyway TD Jakes talks about Jg 15:14 where the Jews come to bind Sampson and take him to the Philistin

As I have spent time in prayer during these past 3 weeks, the Lord has been reminding me over and over again to speak His Word. It is good that we remind the Lord of what He has promised us and what His Word says concerning our lives. Not that He needs to be reminded, but we need to be reminded. God loves it when we put His Word to the test. He is pleased when we put His Word out in front of us like a shield of faith entrusting ourself to its protection and power to deliver. Time and time again His Word will be proven true and right and just. I encourage each of you to put your God to the test. He is a good God, He is mighty and strong and forever worthy to be praised. He will never forsake those who call upon His name. Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed be His name!

I'll be honest, when I was young growing up in the church I was always afraid to really submit my life to the Lord. I was afraid that if I did God would ask me to be a missionary to the deep, dark, jungles of Africa or something like that. I feel better now because my brother and his wife are currently on their second missions trip together and they got to go to Cancun for a week, so submitting to God must not be that bad after all. Actually, they will be doing a lot of work there and I know the Lord will bless them and use them and bring them back safely. Its no coincidence that my brother's name is David because he truly is a man after God's own heart. I thank God for His favor upon our family and His hand upon our lives.

"Prayer is the most precious privilege God has given to His church" - Hattie Hammond When I was growing up I heard allot about "Praying Through". I never really understood it, but I saw the results of it in those that did. What does it mean for us to pray through until we touch God? Lately I have come in contact with people who I know are desperate to hear from the Lord, and to experience a moment of intimacy with Him and hear His voice. Many situations we will encounter in our life time have no natural answer. If we want to grow through these times, then we have to hear from God. Many of us have a bad habit (Me included) of getting down to pray and the moment God begins to answer we are off and running. We have to resist that temptation and learn to wait upon the Lord. The essence and substance of our prayer time needs to be about Jesus Himself. So when we pray through we don't just hear from the Lord, but we touch Him, we walk away with more of Him, m

Each year our church enters into a time of prayer and fasting for the first 21 days of the year. Each year the Lord has spoken to me as to how He would have my wife and I to participate. The key to fasting that I have found is obedience. There is no formula as to what to fast or how long. The Bible gives us several examples like the 3 day fast or the 21 day Daniel type fast, but Daniel and Esther, and others did what they did because that's what the Lord told them to do and they were obedient. Obedience opens the door to spiritual growth. This year we felt to fast our time and not focus so much on food. We have tried the best we can to spend allot of time in the Word and prayer together and individually. I can tell you that God has spoken to us and shared His truths with us during this time. I feel like I've spent allot of time on my knees these past two weeks. That's a good thing. For the most part I think the body of Christ has lost touch with how to pray. I

I was reading Ps. 72 last night in preparation for a class I'm teaching on the Kingdom of God. What a wonderful joy there is to know Christ is Lord over all things and He has given us a part in His kingdom. When we get that perspective, all the circumstances and situations of this life that weigh us down seem to fade away. I am convinced there is a resting place for us there where we can have that perspective all the time and truly go through life with a kingdom perspective. Personally I have not been able to stay in that place for very long. It seems the business and pressures of life have a way of pulling me back into a mental rut of just enduring and holding on till the end. We will suffer and have difficulty and persecution in this life. Jesus promised us that would come. We often think of persecution as religious persecution for our beliefs, but more often, its when we are treated unfairly by others or when bad things happen to ourselves or others we love. The good n