Confidence

I am convinced that the devil and his bunch don't draw back from God and His power. Rather they draw back when they see God's children standing in confidence. I mean, really, they were with God in heaven, and they rebelled. I don't think they think enough of God to be worried about Him. And they surely believe that they are winning.

Anyway, David says a lot about confidence in Psalm 27:1-3. Verse one, the foundation of confidence; verse two, the need for confidence, and verse 3, the exercise of confidence. Verse 2 clearly says that our enemies stumble and fall when they see our confidence in God. And verse 3 says, when they do come against us, we are not afraid. The Hebrew says, "In spite of this, I will be confident."

Me, too. Confidence is a wonderful thing, and we have a wonderful foundation for being confident. "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" The Lord is the strength of my life, in whom shall I be afraid." Sounds like Paul in Romans, "What shall separate us?"

Hebrews 10:38, "if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." Well, let's not draw back, but move forward in confidence. Come on, you can do it. I will stand with you and you stand with me!

Think big, ask big!

This is what the Lord has been saying to me for the last few days.

He has been reminding me that He is the One Who is able to do exceedingly above what I ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). He reminds me almost daily that I keep Him small in my life by thinking small and asking small. He reminds me that Jairus thought big to go find Jesus and ask Him to come to his house to heal his dying daughter. And he asked big of Jesus to come. But guess what, Jesus said, "I will come." Or we might say, "Let's roll!"

So I have been thinking big and asking big this whole week. The devil doesn't attack, he just gnaws around the edges of my thoughts. Asking big and thinking big is almost like inviting him to gnaw at the edges of my faith. But then again, it is proof that I am on the right track. Sure enough, when Jairus and Jesus were returning to his house, people came to say it was too late, his daughter was dead. Jesus immediately spoke up and said, "Fear not, only believe." So after asking and thinking, when the gnawer (new word) comes, don't get into fear, just keep believing.

Looking closely at Ephesians 3:20, we begin to see that the size of God in our life is directly proportional to how big we think and how big we ask. His "exceedingly above" is hampered by our littleness. Hmmm... Exactly what could He do...?

I Am What I Am

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain... (I Corinthians 15:10)."

Do you know someone who really doesn't like you? Do you know someone who does? We all have those who do and don't like us. But the determining factor of our emotional makeup should be that Jesus loves us most. We are too easily moved by the people and opinions of this world. Paul said, "Some people don't like me, some do." But he realized that what he was in his Christian walk was because of the grace of God to him. God could have easily assigned him to the pits of hell for his treatment of Christians. Instead he saved him and commissioned him to be His chosen minister. And though we sometimes think of Paul as perfect, in reality he was just like us. He did good things and bad things. He had good thoughts and bad thoughts. He had good plans and bad plans. Maybe some people thought he shouldn't be an apostle, or at least, should be better. But his conclusion was, "By God's grace, I am what I am."

And his further determination was not to misuse that grace. "God didn't waste His time when He bestowed His grace on me...I make sure I serve Him faithfully", he said.

There may be others who are better than you in some areas. But if you realize that God's grace in your life has made you who you are, and if you determine that His grace bestowed on you was not in vain, then you have a good balanced emotional makeup. By God's grace, I am what I am.

So think well of yourself. Did you know that the Bible says that you, as a Christian, are a sweet smelling savor to God? Just endeavor daily to be all you can for God, and let His grace carry you through. Oh, and let Him deal with those who don't like them...and those who do.

Bible Learning Lab

Judy's long awaited website is finally up and online. Wow! It is fantastic. Here is her description of this website: "Learn the basics of this amazing book! When you understand what is inside, you will soar higher than you can imagine!"

She has worked diligently on it for about 10 months. And in the months to come she will be adding new features to it. But for now, it is up and running with wonderful things to discover.

Check it out! Bible Learning Lab! (There is also a link to her site at the right of this page.)

So, You Don't Know Enough

The Lord is an easy employer. Simply put, no experience necessary, just show up for work. When it comes to ministry in any venue (witnessing, teaching, preaching, etc.) most regular church members feel very inadequate. They may have gone to church all their lives, but still don't feel "qualified" to do certain "jobs". But the problem is theirs, not God's. He makes it easy on everyone, just show up. The Psalmist said it this way, speaking for God, "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it." Don't know what to say, just open your mouth wide and trust God to supply the words. Even on the day of Pentecost, when the 120 in the upper room received God's power from on high, the scripture says, "They spoke as the the Holy Spirit gave the words."

When Peter went to Cornelius' house (a gentile!) to preach the gospel to him, he reports to the leaders in Jerusalem, "As I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell..." Not to hard, huh? Just step up in obedience and open your mouth. What if nothing comes? It will. What if nothing happens? It will. What if things go bad? By whose judgment? Just show up for work.

And get this, God pays good wages! "I wish above all things that you may prosper..." Or try this, "God gives seed to the sower and bread to eat." Just gets better, doesn't it?!

So just show up for work, and give it a try. If nothing happens, you're cool. But I guarantee, something will happen.

Be blessed.

Waiting on the Lord

"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. " Isaiah 64:4

Today, I am reminded of the importance of waiting on God. Waiting is an interesting term in Bible parlance. Rather than just waiting around, it means to sit in God's presence, lifting up praise from our hearts (not necessarily our mouths), and letting him know that you are waiting on him and with him. Not impatiently, just waiting. Letting God know that to be in his presence is the most important thing in your life. Waiting can happen in silence, in private, while you are working around the house or the yard. It can happen in the middle of the night when you are awakened, either by God or just because you can't sleep. Often nothing happens, no words are heard, no directions are given. To judge by this world's judgment, it seems to be a waste of time. People have said to me, "I waited before the Lord and nothing happened." But trust me, something is happening, something not measurable by this world.

God says he has something prepared for those who wait for him, wait with him, wait on him. And at the "oddest times" we know something, or say something, or do something out of the ordinary which is a blessing for those around us and ourselves. It comes from waiting with the Lord, waiting in his presence. You should try it.

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 1 Corinthians 2:12.

Decree A Thing

Job 22:28 says, "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy way." What a powerful verse. It reminds me of Paul writing about Abraham in Romans 4 where he says of God that he calls those things that be not as though they were. The very strong implication is that Abraham, like God, called those things that be not as though they were. At any rate, his faith was such that he called the plan of God into existence.

My sister-in-law's worship minister and his wife have just had twins born at 27 weeks (3 months early). They are very small and one has some complications, or rather a situation that could result in complications. They don't have any hope from the doctors. (Thank God that hope springs eternal from our loving heavenly father!) You should read his blog here. And from there, read the later updates. Here is a young man and his wife who have decreed a thing -- a big thing! (As a grandfather of 3 healthy preemies (one with a type 4 brain bleed), I am decreeing with him!)

One can be a beggar when it comes to needing from God. Or he can search the scripture to find what God says about his situation, then begin to "decree" the word of God. To decree a thing may be new to you, but it would be worth your while to check it out. Sometimes we pray about things that God has already established, when instead we need to decree those things in our lives; cf. healing, prosperity, joy, authority, etc.

So check out the Word of God, and begin to decree. Satan really doesn't want you to, and God does. Hmmm.......

An Anomaly

It is a strange world. Just about the time you think you have some things figured out, there comes a strange phenomenon. England is not a particularly Christian nation, though some very fine Christians live there. In fact, you can expect some very sordid things to come out of England. There is on cable a BBC America channel. Now most everything on TV nowadays is not very Christian or fails to hold up high morals, and this channel is one of the worst. In the midst of a terrible TV lineup, and especially coming from England, is this one-hour series called "Robin Hood." It is such a clean hour that kids of any age can watch it without having to cover their eyes or ears. The show is squeaky clean, yet very well done as TV series go.

Robin Hood holds up all the great morals that you want to teach your children. There is a rule in his camp, "No killing unless absolutely necessary." And those killings which must occur are not at all gruesome, in fact, sometimes the act is not shown. The sheriff, though quite evil, still does not speak foul words. It is overall a very wholesome show. One that I highly recommend. Robin is extremely compassionate and forgiving. He takes time to care about his 'men' and others.

Who would have guessed. From England comes a very clean, moral, encouraging series that any Christian can watch and be proud of. If you have an hour on Saturday evenings at 8pm Central, tune in. You will be quite surprised -- I was.

An Effort to Encourage

This is a new blog for me. The blog that concerns my everyday life is Gary's Thoughts. The purpose of this blog, Victory Ground, is to bring little tidbits of life encouragements. I hope to be able to stir you, encourage you, exhort you, console you -- and just overall, to bless you. Feel free to comment about what I say. You can disagree or even queston me about things. I will do my best to answer.

This blog will eventually be connected to our ministry website: victoryground.com. That site is not up and ready for view, but when it is, you will be able to get some teaching helps, etc. It is presently being developed -- with you in mind, as they say. I will announce when it is ready for viewing on both of my blogs.