Encouraged by God's Word

Archive for April, 2010

Hello Family,

It’s time to get in shape. No I’m not talking about getting in shape for the summer time, although some of us need to do that. I’m talking about getting in shape to go to battle. It’s time to get in shape to FIGHT.

That’s right; I’m trying to fight somebody. Not just anybody though. I got my eyes focused on my target and his name is Satan. I’m not running from him anymore. I’m getting in shape and I’m getting ready to rumble.

I need to work on my muscle tone and strength so that I will overcome the strongholds. I need to work on my endurance so I can be in the fight for the long haul. I need to work on my agility so I can dodge the fiery darts.

I’m ready for this fight because I know God’s got my back and He will take care of me. All I have to do is prepare myself and get ready and God will lead me to victory.

God is like a world class trainer that everybody wants in their corner. He knows how to get you ready for your opponent. He knows all of the greatest strategies and how to prepare you to be your best. He knows your strengths and weaknesses and He knows the enemy’s strengths and weaknesses.

But God is better than the best trainers in the world because if you’re in a position where you’re about to lose the fight, God can do something that no other trainer can do. He can step in and finish the fight for you AND He will defeat your enemy without breaking a sweat.

Joshua 10:25 says Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

I feel a victory coming on! What about you?

Now I told you I’m ready to fight but do you know what I’m fighting for? Or let me ask you, what should you be fighting for?

What do you need to take a stand for? What do you need to reclaim. What do you need to speak life over?

It doesn’t matter what it is, WE MUST FIGHT.

No longer will we except defeat as a way of life. No longer will we get beat up.  No longer will we let anyone or anything overpower us. No longer will we be a victim.

It’s time for you to…

Fight for your destiny.

Fight for your family and friends.

Fight for your purpose.

Fight for your health.

Fight for your prosperity.

Fight for your peace of mind.

Fight for your business.

Fight for your home.

Fight for your dreams.

Fight for your career.

FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE!

Let’s fight the good fight.

I don’t care if you are a flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, cruiserweight or heavyweight; you need to get ready

to fight!

Be Encouraged and Have a Victorious Weekend Champ!

Hello Family,

Have you had a decision to make and you get a lot of opinions from different people then you find yourself even more confused?

You have one person telling you to do it this way, then another person telling you to do it that way, then the third person telling you to do it some other way.

Now your head is all cloudy and overloaded with all this information and advice and instead of acting on the advice, you don’t do anything because you’re still trying to process all of that information.

Some of you may get your advice from other sources outside of family and friends. You might get it from TV talk shows, magazines, books or some other philosophies.

Instead of doing the one thing that is right, you’re all over the place listening to and believing everything you get your hands on. You’re mixing philosophies and mixing beliefs and basically you’re taking in a bunch of garbage.

Taking in all of this garbage effects your prayer life, your studying of the word and your praise and worship because your focus is not on God but on everything else.

When in doubt about what to do, always do what God says.

1 John 5:3 says For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

God’s commandments are His standard for living and they are a way for us to live ethically. They are the rules which we should govern our lives by. When we have questions, this is where we should start to get our answers.

God’s commandments are given to us to help us and ease our worries because His word is not burdensome. His word is not oppressive or troublesome.

Listening to other people and all of their nonsense becomes burdensome and that’s where the problem lies.

Stick with God’s commandments because it is enlightening and refreshing and will give you strength and set you free.

His commandments are life and the answer to all of our questions.

Be Encouraged and Have a Great Day!

Hello Family,

A couple of months ago my son went to a friend’s birthday party and it was a laser tag party. They took all of the kids and broke them up into two teams; the red team and the blue team.

Before they got started, everyone had to put on these vest that had sensors on them. They also made sure everyone had a charged laser tag gun. Then they talked to the kids and went over the instructions on how to play the game and how to score points.

In order to score points you had to hit one of the sensors on your opponent’s vest. Once your laser light hit the sensor, it would light up and you would score points individually and you would score points for your team.

The other parents and I went to the observation deck to watch the kids play the game. Some of the kids were all over the place and they were shooting at everything that was moving. But some of the kids took their time and made sure they aimed and hit the target.

Is your aim for righteousness on target or are you all over the place?

2 Timothy 2:22 (Amplified Bible) says Shun youthful lusts and flee from them, and aim at and pursue righteousness; [and aim at and pursue] faith, love, [and] peace in fellowship with all [Christians], who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.

Following Christ is similar to playing laser tag.

In order to be an effective Christian you must have your spiritual lasers focused on Christ. You must be willing to follow Christ in a structured way and not be all over the place.

In laser tag, if you just shoot randomly hoping to hit your target, you might get lucky once in a while but chances are you won’t do well.

Well when you randomly throw out some weak prayers every now and then and squeeze in some lame devotion time with God every once in a while, you won’t be successful either. You’ll continue to miss the mark every time.

And in laser tag you must have a charged gun in order to hit your target. As a Christian, your faith must be charged and strong and you must be willing to follow God regardless of the circumstances.

If your faith is strong and your aim in on target, you’ll have a better chance of hitting the mark. You won’t get it all the time because we’re not perfect but you’ll still have some success.

So from now on, take good aim and make sure you are pursuing righteousness, faith, love, word, deed, love and peace in fellowship with all Christians. Get laser focused in your pursuit of Christ.

Be Encouraged and Have a Great Day!

Hello Family,

This message is going to be short and to the point and is inspired by a message I got from a friend of mine who I grew up with.

It is never too late to go back and achieve the things that you want to achieve and my friend is proving it.

You see she has had some health issues and some other struggles that have affected her physical wellness but today she decided to go to the gym.

Today she decided that she needed to take better care of herself. She could have easily said that she was too old (which she isn’t because she’s my age) or she could have said that she’s never going to be in good shape again but that’s not her mentality.

She has decided to go out and do something that was good for her. She doesn’t think that it’s too late to get physically fit.

Jeremiah 3:22a says Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.”

This is the same with sin.

A backslider is someone who has turned away from God. Now if God is willing to forgive you and give you a second chance and He says that it is okay for you to return to Him, certainly you can go back and achieve anything you set your mind to.

Your past is your past so leave it there. Look forward and don’t dwell on your sins.

It doesn’t matter what type of sin you committed, if you confess to God that you messed up and that you need His forgiveness, He’ll do it for you.

So regardless of what you’ve done in the past, it is never too late to fix it and move on.

Be Encouraged and Have a Great Day!

P. S. Thanks SW!