What Does The Word Say?

This has been an exciting year! We have seen the hand of the LORD at work in our lives, experiencing His love, peace and blessings. God has taken the good, bad and ugly, and put it all in the mix to work out for the good. Now, a new year is on the horizon. What will come of this year? What new journey will be embarked upon? What kind of growth will be experienced this year? The new year always presents itself with these questions and many others, building hope that the new year will be better than the last. This is a good thing because God wants His children to have hope. The Bible declares in Romans 5:5, "Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." That's the New King James Translation. The first part of that verse in the King James Version says, "And hope maketh not ashamed..." Both translations use the word "hope." This is powerful because a simple definition of

The mind is a powerful thing. It is the place where ideas, creativity, dreams and visions are born. It is also the place within man that establishes the groundwork for everything that is done. If a person has a good outlook on life in the mind, there is nothing that can withhold them from bringing to life what they see before it is seen. Proverbs 23:7a says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." Now this verse uses the word "heart," but keep in mind that in scripture, heart and mind are synonymous. There are many defeated Christians out there because of the way that they think of themselves. They have allowed the enemy to infiltrate the mind, causing them to believe what he says instead of what the Lord has to say about them in the Bible. As a believer, your new life starts with 2 Corinthians 5:17. It says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." This is powerful, be

Catchy title right? It may kind of put you in the mind of bearing your soul to a priest, your parents, or someone you feel you have wronged and need to confess to. That's not the kind of confession I am speaking of. I am speaking of the kind of confession that will calm and quiet your soul (your mind, will and emotions) in the midst of any storm. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)." That word "profession" is the Greek word  homología. It means,  "to agree, confess, say the same." In other words, it means to say the same thing that God says in His Word about any and every situation that you may be faced with. With that in mind, you can see how confession is good for the soul. The mind, will and emotions of man naturally wants to go against God. The soul wants to panic when there seems to be no way out.  In order to get it to line up with God, you have t

Finish Strong Another year is coming to a close, and I believe the Lord wants me to encourage your hearts to finish strong. I believe He is saying this because, unlike a sprint, He knows your journey with Him is more like a marathon. Many are at the close or end of other situations and the end seems to be in the distant future. However, just like we can see the end of the year, the Lord sees the end of your situation and He is telling you to finish strong. Here are five things you can meditate on to finish strong for the last thirty-one days of the year. Obey the command to be strong in The Lord and the power of His might. He gave this commandment because He knew you would need strength to fight spiritual battles. (Ephesians 6:13) Be aware of the conflict that the devil is sending your way to get you to doubt God. He doesn't want you to finish let alone finish strong. He wants you to quit. He wants you to disobey the command. (1 Peter 5:8-9) This is when to counterattack

I'm not a football person but my husband is. Every now and then I will watch a game with him. Sometimes I ask questions and from that I understand the logistics of the game. One of the things I understand is that when a team close to the end zone, about to make a touch down, the defense tightens up. The opposing team does all it can to keep its opponent from scoring. 1 Peter 4:7 says, "But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." The enemy, our opponent, knows the end is near. He also knows when you are in faith and the end of what you are believing for is near. So, what does he do? He tightens up his defense because he doesn't want you to score! He doesn't want you to believe that God is going to come through. He is doing everything he can to get you to either stop praying or not pray at all. When this happens, you must make a decision to Stay Focused. Recognize that the enemy is trying to distract you and get your focu

I do love sitting on the beach. It is a very relaxing place and God tends to speak to my when I am there. This time was no different. As I was sitting there watching the water come in and go out, I was reminded of Isaiah 54:17 which says, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." Here is another verse that came to mind Proverbs 8:29 "When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:." These two verses speak of weapons and waters or shall we say weapons and waves. In this life as we all know, we have a very real enemy who fights against us. He doesn't play fair and is out to kill, steal and destroy. This is why it is imperative to know what the Word of God says so that we can use it against h

Years ago when I was in a college biology class, I will never forget the resounding words of the professor. He said, "H2O, it's good stuff." I don't remember anything else about the lesson, but I do recall him teaching us that water is good for the human body. Several years later, at a women's conference in Texas, One of the speakers wrote a book entitled, Drink Water and Live. In this book, as well as in the message, she spoke of the vital importance of drinking water. Studies have shown that filling up on water suppresses the appetite. That word "suppress" means to forcibly put an end to. In other words, filling up on water kills the appetite to eat. In the same way, if a Christian would fill up on the Word of God it would suppress or forcibly put and end to the desire to sin. Filling up on the Word of God will suppress the soul to sin. When a person is having sin issues in their life, it is evident that they are not spending adequate time in the Wor

God is all powerful and mighty to save. Colossians 1:13 teaches that, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His Son. This means that, the only control the devil has over believers is what we allow him to have. He is a defeated foe who will never, and I mean never be able to overthrow the kingdom of God. How then, does the devil, who is a defeated foe, still have so many of God's children bound? This is a good question to pause, ponder and pay attention to, especially if you find yourself in bondage to the enemy. The answer to the question lies in this truth, "The only true power the devil holds over a believer is the power of deception." If you do not have an intense, well instructed, deep knowledge of, or a revelation of the truth, the devil will always be able to take advantage of you. And, the only way to have a revelation of the truth is to read, understand and act on the Scriptures. The two areas the devil's power o

Now that I have entered the fitness world, I keep hearing the word, "hydrate." Of course we know this to mean drink water. When a person is exercising they sweat, and this depletes the body of water. Therefore it is necessary to replenish the body with water that has been lost through exercise. Even without exercise, it is important and necessary to drink lots of water. They say that we should drink at least half our body weight in water which for most, equates to about eight, eight ounce glasses of water a day. The reason this is essential, whether the individual exercises or not is because the human body is comprised of sixty percent water. This is over half of the body's composition and it makes sense that water is needed to keep things functioning and flowing well in the body. That's the natural. Spiritually speaking, the Word of God is equated to wash like water. Ephesians 5:26-27 says, "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by

Absolute. That word means not qualified or diminished in any way; complete. There are words that are typically used that are absolutes and they carry the full weight of their meaning. For example if someone says, "They never pay their bills on time." That means that whenever bills come for this individual, they are paid beyond the due date. Now if this person pays once or twice before time, then it no longer falls in the "never" category. Here is another one. "Everyone in my class is talking about me." Well, that would mean that all the people in that class are talking about this individual. However, if the teacher is not talking about this person, then it is no longer everyone. Typically when I am presented with a statement like this, I ask, "Who is everyone?" The response is usually only one or two people. This is important because most of the time when people use absolutes, they are not fully true. Always, everybody and never usually mean

Hate It Like Potato Salad Strange title, huh? Well, it will make more sense in a moment. You see, my husband hates potato salad. I mean, he has a radical, strong dislike of it. Many have tried to persuade him by saying, "You haven't had my potato salad." That never works, and if anyone accidentally puts it on his plate, he will either send it back or give it to me. I remember one time there was potato salad on his plate and it touched his chicken and he requested another plate. Like I said, my husband hates potato salad. Hate is such a strong word, but the Bible says this in Ecclesiastes 3:8, "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." This verse clearly says there is a  time to hate. More specifically there are two things that the believer is to always hate and they are sin and the devil. Understand that I am not saying to hate the person who is involved in sin, but we are to hate the sin and the devil who is the influence behi

The book of Esther is such a beautiful story that depicts the favor and grace of God. The king loved Esther, and he delighted in bestowing his favor and grace upon her. This all began after she was prepared and then taken to the king. He took one look at her beauty, poise and elegance, fell in love and chose her as queen in place of Vashti. That story has many elements, but focus on the fact that Esther was taken into the presence of the king. In the New Testament we find that we don't have to be taken into the presence of God our King. He calls believers to come. The awesome thing about this is that He already knows everything about you. He knows the good, bad and ugly, yet, He beseeches His children to come into His presence. Look at what the Bible says about this in Hebrews 4:15-16. "For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto

After serving the Lord for some time, there are some verses in the Bible that become quite familiar. For instance, Psalm 1:1-3, Psalm 23, John 3:16 and Romans 12:1-2 are verses in the Bible that most believers are aware of and can quote, but they have become so familiar, that they have lost the meaning and are not lived out. One of the marks of a mature Christian is the ability to be able to read and or hear something multiple times and still hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying. In other words, no matter how many times you read the logos Word, you should have an ear to hear a rhema Word. This is important because if this principle is not put into practice, it opens the door for pride and a stagnation of growth. Pride will read a verse like Romans 8:28-29 with a view of, "I know what it says." Yet, when the Spirit of the Lord comes in to bring revelation that person can't hear that God is not interested in bringing you good things. No, the "good" in t

There are many lessons taught from the Bible that when they are heard, they are always relevant. Two of those lessons are offense and love. Offense because the Bible says in Luke 17:1 "...“ It is impossible that no offenses should come..." This is a fundamental teaching, yet believers struggle with overcoming offenses. The other, which is love, is always relevant because one of the ways to overcome offense is through love. Today, let's look at this timeless message of love. 1 Corinthians 12:31 says, "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way." The "more excellent way" in this verse is love. It is love that overcomes offenses and enables us to live in such a way that God will always be glorified. It is love that is at the fiber of all sonship (mature, kingdom minded) relationships with the heart set upon pleasing the Father and fulfilling His kingdom purposes. Since love is the more excellent way, first and

What a title! I know you are encouraged already, especially if you have had a run of challenging things happening in your life. Your heart rate has increased and you have received an answer to your, "When will all this be over?" questions. Well, before you get too excited, you should continue reading. Breakthrough is on the way, but not as you suppose. The backdrop for this teaching is found in 2 Chronicles 20. A great multitude had come against Jehoshaphat. As a result, the Bible says in verses two and three, "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set -- himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek -- the Lord." There are situations, seasons and circumstances that come up against every believer that sometimes causes fear to rise up. Depending on the depth of the relationship with the Lord, some Christians don't seek the Lord

We just got back from vacation in Cabo. We made some great memories and had a good time. However, several things went left on us that made us wonder what was really going on. God was so faithful and spoke to my heart through the entire vacation, "Count it all joy." I learned that this is the stuff you count it all joy through so that God still gets the glory even through the bad. The Bible gives other instruction on how to get through the things that go left in life. It says in Philippians 3:13-14, "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Notice the instruction in this verse. It says, "forgetting those things which are behind..." In order to go forward in God you must forget some things. What things? The fact that your year planned vacation had

In 2010, I preached a message entitled H.A.T.S to the Glory of God. The acronym stands for health, appearance, temperament and security. The text for the message was in 1 Corinthians 10:31 which says, "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." In essence, the message was teaching that our health, appearance, temperament and security should all give glory to God. I want to talk about the appearance portion of this acronym. We live in a day and time where the ungodly fashion trends of society have infiltrated the church. Everything from women dressing like men, to wearing bikini's on beaches, all in the name of self expression have become common place among Christian women with no conviction. This is unfortunate and gives the enemies of God great occasion to blaspheme the name of the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:9-10 gives the blueprint for fashion among Christian women. It says, "in like manner also, that the women adorn themselve

As pastors, my husband and I are very passionate about preaching; namely preaching against sin. This doesn't always go over very well; especially when dealing with an individual about a particular sin. Let me say though, that the sins we deal with, many times are not necessarily big. They are the little character issues of the heart when dealt with that cause deep hurt, offense and the catalyst to send people out the door. This gets very perplexing, but when my mind tries to go places it doesn't need to be, I hear the Spirit of God reminding me that people come and people go. You keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and choose to walk in love and forgiveness. Whenever, I hear these words, I say, Yes Lord. I will walk in love and forgiveness. This is not always an easy task, this love and forgiveness business. Yet, I have found that the task is less difficult when my heart and mind are fixed on being obedient to the Lord; rather than giving in to the dictates of my flesh. You see,

When I was in high school I ran track. I enjoyed it and learned quickly the importance of staying in my lane. It never happened to me, but I have seen many track meets where runners accidentally or purposely crossed into the lane of their opponent. When this happened, whether by accident or on purpose, it would cause injury and in many cases the loss of the race. This helps put things in perspective in terms of staying in the positive lane of life with spoken words. We live in a day and time where people are negative about almost everything. No one is happy about anything and they say things like, "If it aint one thing it is another." "I always get stuck in traffic." "There are cutbacks on the job. I know they are going to lay me off." "I always get sick." These are negative confessions and breed negativity in your life. You have to learn to stay in the positive lane with the words that you speak. The Bible is clear when it says in Proverbs

I'm excited because in 32 days we will be going to Cabo to celebrate 21 years of marriage with friends and family. I am looking forward to a time of loving Christ, enjoying life and making memories. Most of all I am excited about celebrating 21 years of marriage to my best friend, companion and lover for life Robert Poole Jr. As I reflect on our time together, and how we are still in love, I think on others who are now in love, but it came at a great price. I think of others who decades earlier pronounced undying love in their wedding vows and now hate each other because of infidelity, abuse, lies and the like. I also think of those who are about to get married and wonder, do they have the stuff to stick. This presents the mystery of marriage and has left many, including Christians scratching and shaking their heads. Herein lies the mystery of marriage. Paul in Ephesians 5:31-32 calls it a great mystery. He says, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother an

I was watching a nature show with my family, and we were all quite intrigued. In one particular segment, there were some wolves chasing down a herd of bison trying to get the baby bison for some lunch meat. Those wolves were relentless in their chase. The kept running and chasing until finally, they got a calf and its mother disconnected from the herd. The calf was petrified as the mother tried to ward off the three wolves. The wolves intensified their attack, nipping at its heels, hoping to get the calf for their meal. Suddenly, the young calf kicked one of the wolves in the head. Ouch! It sent the wolf reeling and gave the mother and her calf a chance to run and catch up with the rest of the herd. When the calf kicked the wolf, the commentator said that the calf had to learn to fight or die. The mother bison could only do so much and knew that the calf had to fight too. This was a part of its training and if the young calf made it through, the struggle of the fight with the wolf

I was just listening to the news and major cell phone companies are working with legislature to establish some kind of law to ban texting while driving. Although, texting in and of itself is not bad, the timing of the texting can be detrimental and even cause death. There is a heightened awareness of this issue because many people have died because they were sending or receiving a text while driving. Texting is not the problem. It's the timing of the texting that is the problem. There is no way that a person can drive and text at the same time and not be distracted. This is obvious because when you look to the phone to text, your eyes are not on the road. It is that moment that you look away to text "idk," or "wbu," that can cost someone their life. Just like texting while driving or walking for that matter, causes the user to be distracted, so do other things come in life to get a believer distracted from what is really important in life. The enemy uses li

You are such a copy cat! I am sure you have heard that phrase and know that it is one of annoyance because it is describing one who is copying or mimicking the actions of another. However, I must confess, though a bit reluctantly because of its negative connotations, that I am a copy cat! As I was sitting and thinking of some things, I saw myself sprinting, dancing and doing squats. When I ran track, they showed me what to do and I copied it. When I first got into Zumba, I would intently watch the instructor and dance the moves just like she did. With doing squats,  I was shown the correct way to do it, and copied it. More importantly, since I have been serving the Lord, by His grace, whatever I read in His Word, I copy! This makes me a copy cat! This is a good thing when you look at it in line with scripture. 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."  Ephesians 5:1 says, "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children." T

Marriage takes work! In fact, it takes a lot of hard work! However, somewhere, somehow, the enemy has bamboozled many Christians (women especially) into thinking it is a cake walk on a sunny, summer, Sunday afternoon! This is the furthest thing from the truth. As a result, many (again I say, especially women) are living with dashed hopes and expectations which often times end in divorce. So how did it come to this? Well, for starters we watch too much television. The shows on t.v. are a scripted reality written to project what the producers want the audience to see as reality. The problem, however, is that many well meaning belivers walk away from these award winning shows hoping the same will happen for them. I must admit that I am a bit of a romantic and I have fallen prey to scripted reality. One of my favorites was Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. When I first saw it, I walked away wanting my night and shining armor to come and sweep me away to a better life.

Are you currently in a situation that looks hopeless? I mean are you facing financial hardship, underwater mortgage, unemployment with past issues preventing employment, a wayward child, a cantankerous spouse or some other situation that you just can't seem to get out of? Well, if so, you are not alone, and the Bible offers a wealth of scriptures to guide you through your "rock and a hard place situation." The wealth of scripture is vast on this type of thing, so for the sake of this devotion, I want to turn your attention to Romans 4:18-20. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, w

This week has been a time of terror, tribulation and tragedy. Everything from the Boston Marathon bombings, the explosion of the fertilizer plant in West Texas, the shooting and bombs going off on the MIT campus in Boston has left this country reeling in despair. Lives of many innocent people have been lost and others mortally wounded through these events, leaving many, (even some Christians) wondering, Where is God in the midst of all of this? While these events have left many are wondering where is God, they have also stirred up fear in the hearts of the people everywhere, especially in the places where it all happened. Nevertheless, it is in times like these that we as believers need to amp up our faith and fix our focus on our faithful Father who promised to never leave nor forsake us. The Bible declares in Hebrews 12:2-3 KJV, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is se

Life is all about choices; choices for the good and choices for the bad. The profundity of this truth is that, we don't get to choose the consequences for our choices. The consequences for our choices choose us. The awesome thing about choices for the believer is that God tells us what to choose. Moses said in Deuteronomy 30:19, "I call -- heaven and -- earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." Notice the latter part of the verse says, "choose life." It doesn't get any clearer than that! It goes on to say that the reason to choose life is to promise life for you and your offspring. That is great news! However, along with that great news is the crashing reality that sin is lurking in the dark recesses of the flesh waiting for a port of entry. That port may be offense, addictions, attitudes or any other fleshly propensity that we may

The dentist office is really not a bad place if you do the daily maintenance that is prescribed by the doctor. The daily maintenance of brushing in the morning and the evening before bed for two minutes plus rinsing and flossing will promote healthy teeth and gums. The earlier in life that this is put into practice, the better the chances are for not having cavities or other issues with teeth. Many people are aware of these simple maintenance practices, but many still don't do it. I know I was guilty of this for several years. When I finally made it to the dentist, I found out the price I had to pay for not doing the basic things to keep my teeth and gums healthy. The Word of God also talks about spiritual maintenance. I admit, it is not called this in the Bible, but the pragmatics of it is displayed. Take a look at Joshua 1:8. It reads this way in the NIV, "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do every

Palm Sunday begins the Passion Week of Jesus' life which is the seven days before His crucifixion. I cannot even begin to imagine what was going through the Savior's mind as He knew what type of death that He must die. However Hebrews 12:2 gives us a glimpse of what he was thinking. It says, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." The Good News translation of this verse gives it more clarity. "Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne." Jesus had joy in his heart at the thought of presenting us His church before the Father. The joy gave Him the

As I sit here on a beautiful beach in Hawaii, my heart swells at the grandeur and beauty of God. Only God could paint this beauty on the canvas of earth for us to enjoy! I am truly grateful to be here to see the Lord's handiwork. We are also the Lord's handiwork created by Him for good works which He has already prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). Since we are created by Him, like Him and for Him, what is it that we cannot do in Him? We live in such a negative culture that says, "I can't," to the smallest thing. As believers, we must rise above the common fray of the world's negativity and declare, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." This short little verse packs a punch and I am challenging you to bring it into the everyday reality of your life. For example, it has been proven that if a person walks for thirty minutes a day five days a week will improve the overall health of that individual. Some of you reading this may s

It is in every human being to know what to do. When you don't know what to do you know to ask someone what to do. For example, we have all heard of "maternal instinct." There is no manual on how to be a mom, but every mother instinctively knows how to nurture her children. How do mom's instinctively know? Where does this instinct come from? It comes from three little letters that stand for a really big word. I know about this little lettered big word, but I needed to do some research to bring clarity to myself for the sake of what I am going to share with you. I discovered that it's simple and complex at the same time. However, when you understand the pragmatics of how it pertains to you, spiritually, it will change your life. Ok, so, these three little letters, DNA, stand for deoxyribonucleic acid. It is found in the nucleus of every cell and carries the genetic code for all living things. The genetic code carries the instructions for everything humans need