Dear Missy for January 2021

Luke 6:19, “And all the multitude was seeking to touch Jesus, for healing power was all the while going forth from Him and curing them all (saving them from severe illness and calamities).”

Dear Missy, seeking Jesus is our greatest journey in this life and as we find Him, He meets our needs in all areas of our life. On the above day healing was present and as we seek healing, He supplies healing.

I love you, Daddy

Luke 24:49, “And behold, I will send forth upon you what my Father has promised; but remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Dear Missy, we will be clothed with the Holy Spirit, and be allowed a heaven on earth experience. We need to align our faith with God’s word and the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us.

I love you, Daddy

Daniel 11:3, “Then a mighty King will rise to power who will rule a vast Kingdom and accomplish everything he sets out to do.”

Dear Missy, with God, all things are possible and through His Son Jesus we accomplish and are prosperous at everything we put our hand to.

I love you, Daddy

Amos 5:9, “With blinding speed and power He destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.”

Dear Missy, the power of God is stronger, faster, and bigger than any power on earth. Stay close to Him and you will prevail over anything.

I love you, Daddy

Walking on the Water

Can we as people really step out on the H2O? Is there enough buoyancy in faith to sustain us above the pull of our body weight?

The disciple Peter found out about faith and buoyancy as we see written in Matthew 14:22-32 in the Holy Bible.

As the story goes, Jesus came walking on the water to the boat full of disciples.  The sight of this miraculous happening terrified them; they thought they were seeing a ghost!

But Jesus immediately said, “take courage, it is I, don’t be afraid”.

This statement from Jesus gave Peter enough faith in his own words to say to Jesus (who was still out on the water, by the way), “Lord if it’s You tell me to come to You on the water”.

Peter’s faith in what he heard the Lord say propelled his faith into buoyancy! And Peter’s faith gave Jesus the opportunity to allow action to correspond to his faith by saying, “Come”.

At this point, there is nothing left to do except, get out of the boat! And that’s just what Peter did.

So Peter stepped out of the boat onto the water, “by faith”, weight and wind defying faith – buoyancy faith!

As long as Peter was looking at the source of his faith, I will say that again, “as long as Peter was looking at the source of his faith”, he was walking on the water. Amen!

Peter was walking toward Jesus on the water, then he noticed the wind and the waves, or natural happenings, he took his eyes off his source and looked at the obstacles… UT OH!

Peter focused on the obstacles and began to sink; here is where the graciousness of our Lord shines!

I have a personal story about God’s graciousness that I will share at this point.

About 14 years ago my wife and I left home and family to set out to serve God at a higher level, in another state.

My wife and I were moved “by faith” we knew there was much more about the Trinity than we were walking in.

We sought to learn about faith and how to be led by the Spirit of God. We soon found out there was a lot about faith that we did not yet understand.  We started looking at the wind and the waves in our life; we took our eyes off of our Source!

As we began sinking, I remember asking God this question, “God what’s happening, why are we sinking, how did we fail”?

The next words from God were a marker time in my faith journey.  God spoke to me, not in an audible voice but inside my spirit, saying “Peter was the only one to get out of the boat, I had to help him back in”!

This phrase still ministers to me some 14 years later. This is one of the most gracious times I have ever had with the Lord. I felt comforted, I felt loved, and I felt the caress of a Father, a Brother, and a friend. Amen! 

 God saw our stepping out as a faith victory, not a faith failure.  Just as with Peter in verse 30, he cried out, “Lord save me”, and the Bible says in verse 31 that Jesus immediately reached out and caught Peter and saved him from drowning.

This was not the end of Peter’s story, nor was it the end of mine.  You see, Jesus is thrilled when we trust Him and step out in faith.  But His words to Peter, me, and you after we allow doubt to derail our faith is, “you of little faith, why did you doubt”.

Jesus wants us living out of the boat;

  • trusting Him with our every move
  • walking where few dare try
  • accomplishing what most fear
  • And taking courage that He will do everything He said! Amen!

Do you trust Him, friend? He is faithful, trustworthy, and true!

When we step out, Jesus steps in.  In Him all obstacles disappear, all waves flatten out, and “by faith” we have what He says.

What we need to say as we walk this faith walk is found in verse 33, “Truly you are the Son of God”, and I trust you!

Let’s walk on the water today.  If enough of us get out of the boat we can change our churches, our communities, our states, and yes even our country.

Walk “by Faith” today! Trust Jesus to change your life today. He is so gracious and faithful, let’s join with Him today.

If you need a faith boost today, please leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

If you liked this content, please consider signing up for my newsletter to receive emails directly.

Scriptures of encouragement and content: Matthew 14:22-32, James 2:18, James 1:23-25, James 4:6, Hebrews 2:11, Matthew 21:21, Isaiah 26:3, 2 Corinthians 5:7, and Isaiah 30:18 TPT, ” For this reason the Lord is still waiting to show His favor to you so He can show you His marvelous love. He waits to be gracious to you. He sits on His throne ready to show mercy to you. For Yahweh is the Lord of justice, faithful to keep His promises. Overwhelmed with bliss are all who entwine their hearts in Him, waiting for Him to help them. Amen and Wow!

Loving Kindness and Tender Mercies

These two descriptors are found throughout the Bible, but to truly understand these loving characteristics we must look deeply into the promises and concepts of God Himself.

From the beginning of time, God has truly had us on His mind, He was, is, and will always be a loving Creator!

To start an understanding relationship with our Creator, we need to first establish a couple of beliefs.

First, we must believe Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth.” AMPC.

If we get this settled first we can then be guided and directed through the rest of the Bible, with Genesis 1:1 as our grounding scripture of premise. Amen!

To understand the contents of this blog, you will need to establish in your heart the second belief found in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”. This is God speaking to Jeremiah, or Jerry, or Pam, or Bill, or Krysti. We must include ourselves in scriptures that explain God’s actions, and reactions, for all people and for all times.

God does not change, and I am very grateful for that, you?

Let’s look at loving kindness first; loving kindness is God’s grace in Christ Jesus, it is His mercy towards us when He renews us unto Himself. It is His wondrous deeds that He performs among us, it is His goodness to us, and it is better than life as written in Psalm 63:3, “Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.” Amen!

As God considers us, He looks at us through His lovingkindness, which is affection in its purest form. In Matthew 5:8, the Bible says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” Amen!

So, by accepting God with a pure heart, and by believing that He is the Creator of all things (this includes us), and by becoming a doer of His Word we will see God! Amazing!

Now, as we look at His tender mercies I need you to open up your spiritual eyes, and put into practice the beliefs we just covered. We are going somewhere.

Here comes the huge statement……. “Tender Mercies is how God sees us when we were still in our mother’s womb! Before any sin, before we entered this curse-filled world before we even had a blemish.

God sees us back before we rebelled, before we had our own opinion, before any unbelief, and before there was a chasm between us.

God’s “tender mercies” towards us, gives us the ability to be in a place with God where and when He first knew us as His children.

Romans 8:14 says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (that would mean male sons and female). We truly were spirits before we were adorned with this flesh, pure spirits without any division between us and our Creator, God!

You see God’s “tender mercies” come from the Hebrew word, “Racham”.

There are many biblical and theological definitions of racham, these include; blessing, protection, guidance, support, spiritual gifts, the gift of faith, peace, persistence, and cheerfulness to name a few. These are all wonderful and amazing qualities of God. Amen!

But the Semitic language, the root definition of the word racham is, “Womb”. As in the love of a mother for her unborn child, a love that can never be challenged! Pause and think about this for a minute, based on what we have covered, God loves us this way! Astounding!

David in Psalm 25:6, “Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses; for they have been ever of old”, was asking God to remember the love He had for him before he had ever sinned before he had ever committed an ungodly act.

We have no English word or definition for this kind of love!

The love our Creator has for us is unexplainable.  You want to talk about undeserved, God loved us before we were, and He loved us enough as sinners to send His only Son to bring us back to the love we enjoyed in the womb. Wow!

The “tender mercies” or “racham” that we enjoy now was pre-flesh and amazingly spiritual.

We have a job to do while we are here on this earth and that is to love God and one another’s so much that we return to that pre-birth condition, that leaping in the womb condition that John enjoyed before he was birthed by his mother Elizabeth, read Luke 1:41-44.

That condition causes us to hear accurately from Jesus so that we can always be listening to and for Him, and by spiritually listening we will also set up a watchtower in our hearts that longs to see our risen King. Amen!

The symbolization of watchtower is to be watchful for signs of prophecy and of Christ’s return. When He comes back for us the Bible says in 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”.

Let’s start skipping like a calf, marveling at the Word of God. As much as we know to do, let us endeavor to be like Jesus.

Friend, do you know Him, He knows and loves you.

If you need a faith boost today, please leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

If you liked this content, please consider signing up for my newsletter to receive emails directly.

Scriptures of encouragement and content; Genesis 1:1-31, Genesis 2:1-4, Jeremiah 1: 4-5, Psalm 63: 1-8, Psalm 25:1-14, Luke 1: 41-44, 1 John 3: 1-3, and Isaiah 46 : 3-4, ” Listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime- until your hair is white with age. I made you. I will carry you along and save you”.   

To Those Who Mourn

It seems that no matter where you sit on the fence of the 2020 pandemic, we are all touched in some way.

An actual fence marks a boundary that has been placed to either keep something in or, to keep something out.

As we put up our emotional boundaries, we keep at bay our ability to mourn with those who are mourning over a significant loss at the hands of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The illusion about what the capabilities of the pandemic are, seem to strike different cords depending on your faith, race, financial abilities, and age group.

The poverty and death being caused by the pandemic seem to be overshadowed by everyone’s inherent desire to self-persevere.

Unless people are touched first hand, the pandemic either becomes political, or non-existent to a good portion of the population.

This pattern seems to be holding the same for “The Church”, and we need to bridge this gap as soon as possible.

The Apostle Paul tells us to mourn with those who mourn, right after he told us to rejoice with those who rejoice.

Both rejoicing and mourning are part of what we are going to experience in a fallen world.

As people confessing to be Christians, we should be leaders in these areas, the areas of consoling people as well as shouting with them. Amen!

Christ-ians are ambassadors of “The Christ”.  As ambassadors, we have a duty to present the Kingdom of God to one another and those around us.

We have a duty to become intentional in prayer, calling prayer meetings, prayer vigils, and one on one prayer time, whatever is necessary to turn the spiritual tide.

We should stop fighting to keep the church open and start fighting for people, their lives, and livelihoods. Help the people with their finances, their hurts, and their losses. Mourning lasts way past the burial process and people need our support for the long haul.

We know that God hears the cries of His people, just look in the Psalms, where David cried out to God.  God heard, and God heeded David’s prayers. Amen!

We need to draw a parallel to the Word of God to help a struggling people, whether financially or emotionally. That drawn line traces a path to hope and healing, to strength and salvation.

After all, the greatest need in the world today is salvation! Amen!                                

We as Christians should turn our thoughts and the thoughts of those around us toward an eternal reality.

If we constantly remember others and look to assist in their lives, and their traumatic experiences, we will see a healing that starts spreading much quicker than a vaccine.

Joy will truly come in the morning as the scripture says, “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning”. Psalm 30:5 NLT.

Let’s start acting like it’s morning! Amen! Let’s spread some joy!

Let’s reach out to people that are hurting, and first get them sustained whether it be financially or emotionally, then help them to be restored to a spiritual connection.

A connection that will cause them to have a future and a hope, and we by helping others will also help ourselves, increasing the totality of the spiritual connection.

God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus.  We should so love those around us and do the same. Amen!

Come out of isolation and let the light of the Gospel be seen anew.

Start now so that we enter 2021 full of true Christianity which is; genuine love, love for one another, rejoicing in hope, being patient, contributing to the needs of others, blessing those who may not be so lovely, have joy with the joyful, weep with those who weep, live in harmony with one another, don’t be haughty, be honorable in the sight of all, and live in peace. Romans 12:9-21 paraphrased.

I will close with a prayer for all of us. “May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus. Amen! Philippians 4:7

If you need a faith boost today, please leave a comment and I will prayerfully respond.

If you liked this content, please consider signing up for my newsletter to receive emails directly.

Scriptures of encouragement and content: Colossians 4:6, Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:15-16, Ephesians 1:13-14, John 3:16, and Luke 1:78-80, “Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace”. NLT translation.