Encouraging Notes

Do you know that it is possible to see faith? In different places, the Bible speaks of faith that could be seen upon a person. Meaning, there was something observable upon a person that shouted: “I believe!”

Acts 14:8-10 In Lystra, there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called out, “Stand up on your feet! ” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

Wow! The apostle Paul needed a breakthrough that day in Iconium. Because Paul was sharing the gospel, the Jews were trying to create trouble for him. While he was ministering, God intervened and, through Paul, released this mighty miracle.

When I read something like that, I ask myself the obvious question. Is my faith visible? I question not only whether my faith is visible to people around me but is my faith visible to God. He is the only one who can truly bring a true breakthrough in my life. Have I exalted the word of God to the highest place in my thoughts? Has my meditation brought about a change to the countenance of my face and the walk of my life? When someone genuinely believes God, they become a magnet for His blessing and favor! That is why the Scripture so emphatically declares, “And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

My Prayer: Father God, in the name of Jesus Christ, I fully surrender myself to the truth of your word today. I choose to let it sit on the throne of my thoughts and choose to let it dominate my meditation! By faith, I receive a life of intimacy and oneness with you today! Father, in the name of Jesus, may my life be a direct reflection of the truth of your word today. Amen!

I am praying for you today! I am declaring that you are someone whom both God and others can look at and see faith! The world is in desperate need of a touch from heaven! God has called you to be his ambassador! He has called you to be a part of releasing his incredible message of reconciliation to this world! Oh yes! You were born for such a time as this! As a servant of God, I declare over you today that you have…

FAITH THAT CAN BE SEEN

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When a man is in love with a woman, he is extra protective and jealous for her! Nothing can anger him more than someone trying to hurt her. Do you know that God is jealous for you? Though man’s jealousy is often selfishly motivated and not pure, God’s love and jealousy for us is pure!

James 4:5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

When it comes to you and me, God ain’t playing! We must take the Creator of all the universe seriously! With everything that he is, he longs for us to know him intimately. Oh yes! You and I are the passion of his heart! He died for us so that we could experience all that he is! It is imperative that we receive his love and pursue his heart!

1 Chronicles 28:9, 10a “And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. So take this seriously.” (NLT)

The prophet Isaiah said, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6

We are everything God has ever wanted; therefore, it would behoove us to take our relationship with him seriously! There will come a time when the opportunity to seek God will be over. Knowing God and living for God are not equivalent to a gym membership! God is not something we add to our life – he must be our life! He gave his life for us, and we must give our life to him. He knows that if you don’t give him your whole life, something else will take his place as God in your life, and the life of heaven, where true fulfillment and true prosperity are, will be impossible. Jesus said to pray like this, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10

God longs for us to experience the life of heaven right here on earth! Experiencing the life of being completely loved, totally forgiven, and entirely free is only possible when one’s life is wholly surrendered to him! I’m praying for you today, my dear friend, and I am declaring over your life that today is your day for God to have...

YOUR WHOLE LIFE!

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When you need help, looking to God will never disappoint! Some look to their doctor, spouse, family members, and others to friends or even the government, but looking to God is where your help will come from!

Psalm 121:1-8 I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? 2My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth! 3He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. 4Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. 7The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. 8The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

You can be confident that help will come when you turn your eyes to God! He sees everything, knows everything, and can do anything! Trusting in God is a sure bet! Your breakthrough will not come from just anywhere; your help will come from God!

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

When no one else is there, he is there with you! When you are all alone, he is there to calm your heart and make a way for you! With all that is going on in the world right now, it is certainly time for us to trust God as never before! As the body of Christ, we must know that it is God who is our help and our refuge! Just wondering, where are you…

LOOKING FOR HELP?

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The magnitude of God’s love and grace is impossible to fathom fully! His love is so deep and so intense that I believe we will spend eternity growing in its revelation! I pray that the following scriptures will grip your heart! Please remember as you read, you are included as one who is a Jew or God’s family. (Rom 8:28)

Deuteronomy 7:7-9 “The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. (NLT)

Romans 5:6-11 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (NIV)

You are so valuable that even before the creation of the universe, you were in the heart of God. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Ephesians 1:4 (NIV) WOW! Even before you were formed in the womb, God knew you! Jer 1:5

God’s love is so incredible! If you are up for it, try to soak in the following two statements – they are mind-blowing. You are everything God has ever wanted. You are God’s dream come true! Most people struggle deeply with those statements. The more you receive of their truths, the more you will walk in God’s power!

God’s passion for you is beyond anything your mind can fully conceive! Today is your day to receive who you really are! Today is your day to surrender to God’s amazing love! This I know; there is no other love that compares with his...

INCREDIBLE LOVE

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Approaching God based upon our righteousness puts a person up a creek without a paddle – hopeless and helpless! Instead of walking by faith, the children of Israel continually tried to serve God in their own strength and power. As a result, they were often at odds with God, living far from his blessing and favor. If you look at this Scripture in light of the new covenant God has made with us through Jesus Christ, it will make you excited!

Deuteronomy 7:12-15 “If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the LORD your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. He will give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young. And the LORD will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies! (NLT)

The righteousness God requires now is the righteousness that comes from faith and faith alone! Take a look at this Scripture:

Galatians 3:11-14 So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” 12 This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. (NLT)

God sent Jesus to fulfill the law perfectly for us! It is as if he took the test but gave us his score. He did this so that you and I could enter into the full blessing of being righteous in his sight and called one of his very own. Now we have been made one with Christ and are heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ. Rom 8:17

Do you see God’s amazing plan? He dearly loves you! He has made a way for you! Your right standing with God is no longer based upon your works but instead on faith! Believing God is the most righteous thing you will ever do in all of your life! Believing is what pleases God the most! True faith in God comes down to believing that God now sees you as righteous and utterly perfect because of the sacrifice of Jesus and his shed blood!

It’s You can be very excited because faith in God’s provision through Jesus Christ now puts you in a position to live in his amazing love and...

SHARE IN ALL HIS BLESSING!

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Some truths are more difficult to establish than others. One of the most challenging lessons of my life to learn was that praying more and reading the Bible more doesn’t necessarily mean knowing God more or being right with him. Though praying and reading are vitally important, doing them as a work to gain righteousness or to feel right about myself will not produce right standing with God.

Sometimes it is easier to do religious works like giving God money or serving in the church than to obey what he’s telling us to do. In first Samuel 15, the Bible records King Saul making a grave mistake when he chose to sacrifice to God instead of obeying what God, through the prophet Samuel, had told him to do!

But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV84)

I don’t want to try to appease God by giving him something instead of obeying what he has told me to do! God wants us to believe him enough to step out and do what he has said, even if it is uncomfortable or seems scary. Remember, the children of Israel were unable to enter the promised land because of their unbelief which resulted in fear. More than anything, God wants you to believe him and do what he has told you to do! Genuinely trusting God will bring more significant results than anything else you can do. When God says something– he means it, and he expects you to believe it! As you meditate on the things of God today, ask God to reveal to you what he wants you to do, and then choose to do it with all your heart! Never forget this truth; obedience is better than…

SACRIFICE!

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