Rhema Word•
on July 21st, 2010•
When I begin to describe who Christ is, He causes something in me to rise above my situation. I become somebody different than I normally am. I take on a different nature. I become a different kind of person because when I declare Him, somehow I begin to do something I wouldn’t normally do.
The only way out is not possible in myself, so I have to be transformed into a different creature. How many of you understand that if you are in the water, being an eagle can’t save you? You have to become a fish to swim. And if you’re on the ground, being a fish can’t help you. You better have legs and if you’re in the sky, you cannot say, ‘I want to swim,’ because you better have wings. So you need to operate in a spiritual atmosphere that cannot overwhelm you. And to do so, you’re going to have to call upon Him.
If I take on Christ’s nature, then I become transformed. I become different and then what the enemy thought he had, is a different person now – one that he cannot overcome. - Apostle Anthony Nelson. Taken from the Apostolic Training Center, Sun. Jul. 18, 2010
Rhema Word•
on June 23rd, 2010•
Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2 Samuel 24:24)
There is one truth that has been pivotal to my walk with the Lord over the years, that keeps coming back into focus every time I seek to advance in His will for my life. This truth is simply this: everyone who intends go to further in God’s plan must be willing to pay the cost.
As I write this message to you, Huntsville & Toronto, Ontario are preparing to host the G8 & G20 summits with the cost for security presently over $1 billion. The debate rages on about the validity of this and is it worth paying that alone just for the security and infrastructure to host this event.
Life costs and if we as believers are going to advance in God’s plan for our lives, then we must be willing to pay the price. I know some of you believe that Christ paid it all for you and that everything in your life should be easy - just bind the devil, give your tithe and and call forth the blessing of the Lord. I wish it was always that easy. But King David knew that if we are going to deal with our sins and win victory in our lives, then we must have the mind to do whatever it takes.
In the above passage, King David knew he had sins and wanted to offer sacrifices to the Lord at the place where grace and mercy were extended to him and his people. Araunah, an honorable man, was willing to give David the land for free. But if King David had accepted it, then the sacrifice would have been Araunah’s not David’s.
Beloved, you have got to catch this principle in your life right now. I believe many of God’s people are in places where God is dealing with them as a Father with His children. He desires for us to advance in His plan for our lives. But are we willing to pay the cost.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?(Luke 14:28-30)
We cannot become Christ’s disciples without walking the way of the cross and embracing the price for our own call. Jesus had a way of separating His followers from His disciples – by telling them the cost. He said they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Right there He would have lost most of North Americans Christians. He knew that most people were out to see what they could get.
I am hearing too much of broken marriages, split churches, and suicides among our youth. We think we are full, but we are empty. Someone said that never in history has a generation received so much and given so little.
I believe it’s time for us to seek the Lord and look seriously at the cost of walking with the Lord. I believe it’s worth it. I believe walking away from Him will cost me more than walking with Him. Let’s rise up and ask the Lord for His strength to give everything for what lies ahead in our lives.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. (Philippians 3:13-16)
My prayer for you during this season is that the Lord will begin impress upon your heart His treasures that are yours in Christ Jesus, that your appetite for the things of the kingdom will increase and His desires will become yours as you reach towards His plan for your life in Christ’s name. Amen. - Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on May 25th, 2010•
57 You are my portion, O LORD; I have said that I would keep Your words. 58 I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; Be merciful to me according to Your Word. 59 I thought about my ways, And turned my feet to Your testimonies. 60 I made haste, and did not delay To keep Your commandments. 61 The cords of the wicked have bound me, But I have not forgotten Your law. 62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You, Because of Your righteous judgments. 63 I am a companion of all who fear You, And of those who keep Your precepts (Ps. 119:57-63)
If you are living in North America with even a few square yards of ground you call your property, I am pretty sure you are in the same battle I am in. I mean the battle against weeds, grubs, Dandelions, you name it. They come out at this time of year, ready to invade and possess your life (I mean lawn). 
Some of you can’t relate to what I am saying and others might think that I am taking it a bit too far. Well, I don’t know what you call it, but it frustrates me when I have cut my lawn, spend hours fighting weeds and other stuff, just to see my next door neighbour’s lawn absolutely filled with my enemy.
There was a time when I naively believed that the weeds would stay hedged into their own lawn and just stay there and coexist with my property without any problem. That, I quickly found out, does not work. They live to reproduce and spread themselves over the whole planet as quickly as they can without any regard for your efforts and time.
It’s so sad that many believers don’t realize that their inheritance in Christ is under attack everyday. Most of us don’t get the truth that we have an enemy who loves us to give up the battle for our inheritance and resign ourselves to his weeds of discouragement, fatigue, depression and hopelessness.
He would love you to let that negative thought just stay there and multiply across your mind until you are no longer walking in joy and peace, then your body begins to take on cancers, ulcers and a host of new diseases that I can’t even call.
But when David became king over Israel, the Bible says the land was at peace. After his enemies met him in his stronghold, they were never again able to rise up aginst him. He was a warrior who kept his inheritance and subdued his foes.
In your personal journey with the Lord, you must remember some divine truths that will help you not only win, but keep God’s hedge of protection around you.
- There is a season in your life when your enemy is most active (Ps. 138:7-8).
- The word of God is your most powerful weapon against your enemy (Ps. 119:97-104).
- The only hedge that keep your enemy out is God’s angelic host.
- If your closest companions have weeds in their lives, it’s just a matter of time before your life begins to feel the effects. (Prov. 27:17).
David’s passion for the Lord and his desire to meditate on God’s Word kept him strong and victorious all though his life. The same God who loves you, has a plan to hedge your life around with His love and protection.
My prayer for you in this season is for the Father’s grace to rest strongly on you, for His good, so that you may be able to overcome all your temptations and walk in the power of His might through Christ Jesus. Be blessed! – Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on May 7th, 2010•
And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them (Josh. 22:12).
This is the time of year when we North Americans declare war on the weeds and other creatures in our backyard. It’s the time when we open our garages, sharpen those lawn mower blades, spray those lawns and generally get quite physical with the enemies in our own backyards.
Now I know some of you like dandelions in your lawns and don’t care for green spaces and some nice tomatoes, growing in your yards. But perhaps like me, you would like to see something you planted there grow up rather than things whose identity you don’t even know, claiming your green space and spreading like wildfire across your yard.
I also find my neighbours have this desire to go to war too. They don’t like anything in their yard that grows without their effort and run rampantly in every direction, stifling the “good seed.” We exchange tips on how to win the battle and take a dim view of those who let their weeds spread over the line into our yards.
There is also this unspoken credit we give to those of us who have won the battle and we hold each other in high esteem, based on the yards of victory we have successfully won and kept from our enemy Mr. Weed (the Amorites) or Mr. Crab Grass (the Philistines).
You see I give them names to remind me that the Christian life is a life of conflict and war. We win some battles and we lose some, but God has given us His promises that no weapon formed against us can prosper (Isa. 54:17).
It has also surprised me how many of God’s children still don’t get the point that God has given each of us an inheritance in Christ that starts right here, right now in the physical and also in the spiritual. We have a set position in Christ - a relationship restored to us by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It saddens my heart every day to see how much of our blessings have been overrun by the enemy. We come to God with our complaints, weariness and hopelessness to invade our hearts and eventually we become prisoners in our own bodies.
Well, I say, “No,” in Jesus’ name! It’s time for you and I to mark out our inheritance. No matter what God has given you, make a determined effort by His Spirit to go to war with your enemy.
There are seeds of our old nature, waiting to blossom and spread in our lives like Cain, ready for our brothers and sisters to do something we find offensive and then jealousy and resentment begins to grow in our hearts.
I want to encourage you with all my heart (that’s what I do, I can’t help myself) to get up out of your place of rest. Put on the joy of the Lord and begin to spray your atmosphere with praise and thanksgiving. The little head of an insect that you see hiding in your soil indicates that there is more of him where he came from. Don’t just say, “I can’t do anything about it. It’s too much for me or I will leave that alone because tomorrow brother or sister so and so might come around and pray for me.” No! You are able to get out there and shout, “NOT ON MY LAWN!”
It’s amazing what people will put up with when they don’t know the consequences or the end result of allowing the weeds to win the war. Let me give you some examples.
I could go on and on telling you of so many men down through the years. But I’m crying out to God to help us win the victory over temptations because someone else before allowed the weeds to grow and the insects to devour the land.
Your enemy’s plan is to keep you bunkered down by life so that you can’t rise up. He wants you to feel so overwhelmed by circumstances that you just can’t get up. He tells you that you don’t have the provision. He tells you that there are too many weeds. He says why bother; they are going to come back anyway.
But I’ve come to tell you that God has given you are warring Spirit of might (Isa. 11: 1-3) so get up! Rise up in the Lord to know what is yours. Make up your mind to clear your heart and live in victory not just in church, but every day of your life.
So I call you today to the battle lines. I call you to strength and honor. I call you to your destiny and power and to take your land back in Jesus’ name. You can and must!
- Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on April 26th, 2010•
And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys (Ex. 40:36)
The week before last, Iceland rose prominently in the news when a volcano erupted sending up ominous ash clouds in the atmosphere. This clouds of ash, effectively grounded air traffic all over Europe and forced travelers to sit in airport terminals and hotels, waiting to see what will happen with the cloud that hovered over them.
Life can be like that sometimes for the best of us. We start our days with our plans and great excitement as we anticipate the future. Then suddenly a seemingly random event, like the loss of a job or the negative result on a blood test, the pain of losing a loved one or even a quarrel with a spouse.
These eruptions in our lives can produce clouds laden with debris that linger for days sometimes months that lead into years. They settle over our lives and don’t want to leave us. They can be relentless sometimes, causing others around us to feel the effects of our saddened hearts. We no longer speak like we used to, dream like we once did. The days are endless, waiting at the airport of our lives hoping that someone will come and help us reach our destination.
Have you ever noticed that its when you are depressed you meet more people who are depressed? The unemployed man who’s drinking his pain away will always find someone in the same condition that is waiting for their cloud to go away. We feel helpless and frustrated. No one seems to be able to help and everyone seems to have theories, but no answers to your problems.
Let me remind you today that just in case you forgot: God used clouds by day to speak to His children and to remind them of His presence in their lives. In the book of Exodus, God used a cloud to lead the children of Israel by day and a pillar of fire by night.
The children of Israel would wake up in the morning and depending upon the movement of the cloud, they moved. God was teaching them a valuable lesson that our generation seems to have lost. He taught them that man does not live nor direct his life based on His plans. God can and does interrupt our lives to get our attention. Like the children of Israel, we must learn the ways of our Father, so that His voice becomes easy for us to hear and understand.
How we respond to disruptions in our lives speaks of who governs our desires and the deep motivations of our heart. If one volcano, suddenly erupting can cause many countries in Europe to ground their planes, what is God saying to you in this fast-paced world of ours?
- I think He is saying slow down. Seek Me first before you make your plans for the ways of man can be stopped by Me anytime and anywhere.
- I believe He is saying I can lift your cloud and cause you to fly again to higher places and deeper depths than you have every done before.
- I believe He is saying to you that it’s been a long time since you and I have stopped and talked together as you hop form plane to plane and place to place.
- I believe He is reminding you and I that there is more to your life than getting to where you want to go. He wants us to enjoy the journey with Him and those around you.
O my soul, why are you cast down and moan within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet thank Him for the salvation of His presence. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; on account of this I remember You from the land of Jordan, and from the Hermonites, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep through the voice of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows have passed over me. Psalms 42:5-7
It is our earnest prayer that this form of teaching will always be a blessing to you and help you grow and make a difference in your generation.
- Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on April 18th, 2010•
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell[a] in the house of the LORD Forever.
Did it every occur to you that the writer of this psalm had days like you and I have – that he and many of God’s great servants walked through days of fatigue and dryness of soul and body; when you just can’t take another sermon, news report of death and mayhem; when the financial demands and the emotional strain just gets a bit too much?
Now maybe you have felt that way or maybe you are feeling that way right now. Before you call for prayer or reach for your normal way of coping with life, just stop and ask your self this question: if God is God does He not know that you and I are built to have days when we will feel not only spiritual fatigue but also physical and mental?
If your answer is yes, then let us diagnose what fatigue is and find out how God wants you and I to respond to this common challenge and His provision for this. Fatigue is a common health complaint. It is, however, one of the hardest terms to define, and a symptom of many different conditions.
Fatigue, also known as weariness, tiredness, exhaustion, or lethargy, is generally defined as a feeling of lack of energy. Fatigue is not the same as drowsiness, but the desire to sleep may accompany fatigue. Apathy is a feeling of indifference that may accompany fatigue or exist independently. (Taken from an online encyclopaedia).
Fatigue is common. Around 20% of Americans claim to have fatigue intense enough to interfere with their having a normal life. Physical causes are estimated at 20-60%, and emotional causes are the other 40-80%.
a) King David was tired of war and he stayed home.
b) Samson the mighty judge of Israel was fatigued and found his solace in the arms of Delilah.
History is full of great men and women of God who had to overcome the very thing that you and I have to face in our generation. So let’s ask the Lord for His natural wisdom to help us deal with this all too common challenge.
I say this because many Christians believe that fatigue is the devil’s weapon against them and they instantly break out in fasting and put their bodies under more stress when a good night’s sleep might be just what they needed. Here are a few suggestions in a very practical way to help us all cope with fatigue.
Ways to help overcome fatigue
1. Get some rest. I don’t mean sleep I mean rest. That means lie down in bed turn off the interruptions, pull the blanket over your body and just let your body rest. It might take you a time to do this seeing that we are so accustomed to activity, but try doing this outside of your bed time and experience the results.
2. Rest in the Lord. Many times we are weary in our minds because too much information is coming to us to tune it out. Spend sometime not listening to the news, answering emails and watching the tv.
3. Find a place of quietness. I am learning to practice this place of rest in the quietness. Try not to respond to anything that really has not got your name attached to it and is marked urgent.
4. Connect with friends who can make you laugh and they help recharge your batteries. Listening to good music that lifts you up can help do this too.
5. Go for walks in nature if you can or just spend some time outside enjoying the movement of life around you.
I know most of us are getting ready for busier days as the spring and summer schedules begin to lengthen and we forget how easy it is to over do it. It is my prayer today, dear friends, that you would take the advice of the Lord through His servant Isaiah and have a restful week ahead.
For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)
Thank you all again for your prayers and kind feedback as we seek to be a blessing to the Body of Christ. – Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on April 7th, 2010•
Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. (Psalms 42:5)
I love spring! In my opinion, it’s the best time of the year. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate summer, fall and winter. But there is something about the spring to me that speaks of a new beginning, of hope and strength. I love to see the trees begin to bud, buds opening and the soil begin to thaw as winter’s cold gives way to spring.
God, in His infinite wisdom, knows our need to look forward to a change in our lives from cold days – when the pain of losing our loved ones to death or the pain of a broken relationship, like frost, tightens around our hearts and joy drains from our lives.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.(Psalms 16:9)
There is something about spring that reminds me of our hope in God’s grace and power as a Father to empower us to overcome the greatest situation facing our lives. The greater the winter the more the earth looks forward to and receives the warming rain and sunshine of the spring.
Those who have lived with the cold of winter and fruits of sin in their lives are more hungry for and receptive to the grace of God that comes to them through Christ. The greater the sinner, the more amazing to him the grace of God.
That’s what God has for us today. It’s not what’s happening around you right now that should speak to you. It’s this promise that He has given to us in His Word that should speak to our hearts today…
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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
The seed of greatness is deep on the inside of us, waiting for the appropriate time for it to come forth and manifest itself to this world. We are God’s sons and daughters, planted in Christ and we will not defeated or discouraged by the coldness of this world, the cares of this life, nor the weakness of our own flesh.
By God’s love and grace, you are alive and He is preparing you for your new beginning. It might seem long and the days seem unending, but dear friends, do not give up! Just as Christ overcame, you and I have the seed of an Overcomer in our hearts, beating fervently until our Lord calls us to manifest to this world His Word deep from the inside of us.
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. (Romans 8:22-25)
It’s so important for us to understand that no experience is wasted and no season is unimportant to the child of God. If we can learn from our pain, embrace the sadness, and grow through our disappointments, then we can become stronger than ever as we wait patiently for His timing in our lives.
For remember this spiritual truth in your life: Patience is a part of the fruit of the Spirit; it’s not a gift. We do not learn patience in the summer or fall. We learn it in our winter season.
For in You, O LORD, I hope; You will hear, O Lord my God. (Psalms 38:15)
It’s my prayer for you today that you may stay strong through your seasons, that you may rejoice no matter what you are going through for your life is in the hand of the Master Gardener and He knows your end from the beginning. I pray strength over you today, favor in your season and a heart of thankfulness, knowing that God is preparing you for a new season in your life. – Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on April 7th, 2010•
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it (Gen. 4:7)
It’s our fervent hope and prayer at Faith Five Fellowship of Ministries that you are all doing very well and that you are appreciating God’s richest blessings to your life in these days. There is so much happening around us and so many decisions to make that wisdom has become the highest prayer for us.
Last month, we completed three weeks of extensive teaching and connecting in Jamaica. The Lord has been so good and He spoke to my heart many times during our visit there.
There was one very telling experience that Cheryl and I had while we were at a campus on the island. We stayed in a small one room bungalow, they call the “tree house”. Apparently it is the main residence for the guest speakers.
When we arrived, there was a small cat sitting at the front door, ready to enter with us. When we inquired about this cat, we were told that the former speaker would feed the cat daily, so the cat obviously decided that he would stay right at the tree house and get his meals.
Well, Cheryl and I did not want this cat in the house (sorry cat lovers), so we refused to let him in. He cried five days straight and kept his post. Every morning when we woke and prepared to leave, he would be there. Every afternoon when we came home, he would be there, getting ready to sneak in as soon as the door opened, but we were just as determined. And eventually he got the message that new management was not about to feed him.
God gave me a powerful message in that stay. If you don’t feed him, he must leave. Many times in your life, you will come to a situation that you did not start or set in order. You are expected to continue on in the set program, but you don’t have to.
You may feel the need to be angry because someone hurt you and you have the right…Don’t feed it.
You see, saints, I have realized after a long struggle in life that my faith grows when I feed it and my doubts grow when I feed them.
As you pray today, read Psalm 139 and pray with me:
Lord, You are our Maker and Provider. Give me the courage to overcome myself and feed my faith with Your words of truth and life.
- Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on February 27th, 2010•
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5, 6)
On Monday night I had the privilege of watching on TV a young Canadian pair of figure skaters rise to the level of gold medalists. A 13-year journey for them came to a climax in Pacific Coliseum. Scott Moir wrapped Tessa Virtue in his arms and said two simple words: “Thank you.” Together they had done what no other had done in Canadian history.
In case you were in a cave somewhere or maybe in your prayer closet let me give you a quick idea what made their skating dance so unique. .
1. They are the youngest couple to every win gold at this event.
2. They are the first to break the stranglehold the Europeans had on this event for decades.
3. They are the first Canadians since Jamie Salé and David Pelletier shared the pairs title eight years ago in Salt Lake City to win a gold medal at this event.
As I watched their beaming faces and the joy of the crowd that surrounded them, I felt deep in my Spirit I was watching something so spiritually real – that I knew the Lord was speaking to my heart.
I believe He was saying to me I want you and I to dance together. To enter into a deep relationship of such honesty and purity that we are able flow together as one. The heart of God is for our spirits to flow with His spirit and merge into a deep abiding journey together.
We enter the kingdom of God through His Spirit and through the working of a daily process of living before Him a life of intimacy. But it does not stop when you find your calling or when you get married or reach some personal place of victory. The heart of God the Father, for those who choose to dance with His Spirit, is that they listen to different music.
To dance with the Lord, you must focus your soul on Him and Him alone. When the music of life begins and all eyes are on you, there is a great tendency for all of us to forget our partner and get caught up with everyone else and all the things happening around us. But if we are going to be successful in our dance with Him then everything in life must be shut out so as to give ourselves to this dance.
The Holy Spirit is your lead partner. He can be trusted when you feel out of control and your life seems to be going nowhere. Be encouraged of this one thing: He knows the whole arena of your life, every step you must take, every movement of this earth you live on. There must be a deep trust of your partner’s wisdom and strength in order for you and I to let Him lead you to a glorious life of victory.
With Him at your side nothing is impossible. Like David said in Psalm 18:29 For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall.
With Him at your side, you can break strongholds over your family and your finances.
With Him at your side, you can minster to the wounded, share the kingdom of God’s message. With Him at your side, you can run and not go weary, overcome temptation, resist wickedness in high places and win the race for your life.
I say to some you, it’s about time you change your dance partner. If you constantly feel defeated, tired and run down, always struggling to live victoriously, maybe God is saying to you that you’re walking with the wrong spirit.
Rise up in faith and ask the Lord of the dance to help you win the dance of your life.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. (Psalms 118:6-9 )
Apostle Anthony Nelson
Rhema Word•
on February 18th, 2010•
We have now been at Westney Place – our new, ministry site - for nearly a month, and we are still cleaning up, moving in and settling in. There is so much that we have to do that it becomes easy to give in to the overwhelming spirit of fatigue and weariness.
But I am so thankful that God gives a Word for where you are going in order for you and I to be able to overcome everything that is speaking to you right now. If you are not sure just look back at the words of healing that God spoke to you, words of provision, words of courage and strength.
The Bible is full of God’s promises for our lives in every area. His Word is not dead and its for right now. He knew you and I would face these days of fear and apostasy and by His loving-kindness and grace, He has watched over His words so that you and I can have it today as a strong defence against fear and unbelief.
It’s so easy for us to listen to the radio and the television reports and believe they know the end of the story. When God’s book tells you and I what God’s view is on our world. It is so easy to just allow our hearts to harden to the Word and don’t read and mediate on His promises to us.
It’s so easy to let our senses rule our decisions that we compromise what God’s Word says for practical daily living when we know that God said the just shall live by faith and He that draws back the Lord will have no delight in. Everything in this world shouts to you to conform, follow the crowd, use wisdom and so on.
It is so easy to close our eyes to others needs, not pay our tithes, stop coming to church and just cruise in life. After all, God understands and He is love and it will all work out in the end. Does that sound like something you have said recently when you just chose to do nothing?
It’s so easy to complain inwardly instead of praising God for His daily blessings. It’s so easy to allow others to affect what we know God has given us the grace to do and let them take on our burden for far too long. It’s so easy to justify my choice and say God knows my heart while we condemn our brother’s actions without discerning their hearts.
It is so easy for us to justify our lives by acts of kindness believing that somehow God is pleased when our hearts do not beat like His. We are not touched with the things that move our Father’s heart. I don’t know about you…
BUT I AM TIRED OF THE EASY WAY.
It’s time someone pushed their heads out of the foxes hole and move by faith into the path of the enemy and turn him back at the gates. God never promised you an easy path nor comfort on this planet. But He did promise you an inheritance that can’t be devalued or stolen.
I have been meditating on Joshua chapter 1, and God gave Joshua and incredible blueprint for success. I love it and that is going to be my personal theme all this year:
1. Be strong in the Lord
2. Take courage from the Spirit of God
3. Obey the Word of God all your life.
4. Stay focused on what has been given to you by those who came before.
5. Speak the Word day and night.
6. Meditate on it and you will prosper.
These are my personal words for the rest of my life. I hope you hear the Lord talking to you. Like Joshua, if you are going to win the battle for your life it is not going to be easy. So if you want easy, turn back right now. But if you want to live in the power of God and become the head not the tail, above not beneath, lend but never borrow, then follow God’s Word for you.
May you continue to do what’s not necessarily easy, but right.
- Apostle Anthony Nelson