May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16)

Like you, I desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate in my life.  I want to see people healed and delivered and set free.  I want to see the dead raised and the lame walk and the blind see.  All these things we should desire, but we should also desire to operate in the gift of encouragement.

What I have noticed about the voice of God when He speaks is how encouraging He is.  Romans 15:5 says, “the God who gives endurance and encouragement.”  God will always tell you that everything is going to be alright in Christ and that things will work out.  When God speaks. you can feel the truth of it all through your being.

There is nothing like the power of encouragement to lift your heart to a different place in the spirit.  People ask me to pray for them all the time.  My hope is that they will hear from God prophetically but also that they will be filled with encouragement and joy and peace.

You can always tell a person who has not received much prophetic encouragement in their lives because when they come forward for a prophetic word and prayer, they are often scared.  They expect to hear God say something nasty about them.

But the prophetic gifting is really an encouragement gift. 1 Corinthians 14:3 says, “But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.”  When we prophesy therefore, it should be to encourage.  If a word isn’t encouraging, I would question the source.

If you become an encourager, then you will never lack people coming to you for ministry.  They will come from miles away just to be near you.  Perhaps you will even have your named changed as we find in Acts 4:36: “Joseph, the Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles renamed Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”).  Wouldn’t it be amazing to have people recognize you such an encouraging person that they change your name?

Have you ever been around a negative person who complains about everything and everyone?  It isn’t fun, is it?  In fact, you would likely go out of your way not to be near them.  I have known a few like that.  I imagine I have been a person like that myself from time to time.

According to the Apostle Paul, encouragement is a gifting (Romans 12:7-8), which to me means that it comes from the Holy Spirit and can come by anointing.  Let us pray together that we will be filled with the Holy Spirit in a new way and that we will see with the eyes of encouragement.

There are people that are near you right now that need to hear something good.  Why don’t you be the catalyst for their encouragement?  Just begin to reach out to them today and watch what God will do in their life and yours.

Many people sit around wondering what they might do for God.  I can tell you that if you will seek to be an encourager, you will never run out of things to do and God will be well pleased.

At the same time, if you are in need of encouragement today, I just want you to know that God is your strength and refuge–a very present help in times of trouble.  I pray for you today and ask God to fill you with His presence.

One last thing that I want to say is that sometimes if we want encouragement, it is a good idea to sow encouragement.  I have found that this works in my own life.  People are constantly encouraging me, in part because I have sown encouragement into them.

So go forth in a new strength today and see what God will do.  You will be amazed at the anointing under which you walk into your destiny.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9)

In this verse we are given a clear command to be “alert” and “sober minded” regarding the attacks of the enemy upon our lives.   Learning this is key to remaining peaceful in Christ.  If you are completely thrown off everytime something seems to go wrong, you will not walk in the peace of Christ.

There have been times in my life that I have had to remind myself that life is a spiritual battlefield.  I long for the time when the enemy is bound for eternity but that is not today.  I remember getting upset very easily and thinking it was unjust when I faced trials of many kinds. 

It isn’t that I don’t feel heavy or have anxiety when an attack comes but rather I know that I have one to turn to.  As I turn to Christ, the pain of the moment has a way of fading away.  He doesn’t allow me to remain in anxiety or fear for long.  He always has a plan to set me free.

A watchman on a wall must be alert and sober.  The defences of a city depend upon the dependability of such a person.  A man who falls asleep at his post can represent a great danger to his city.

In the same way we must not let down our guard against the devil.  Remember he understands your weaknesses and knows how to exploit them.  If he can, he will destroy you.

Many have fallen away when the enemy comes against them.  They are shocked at what they see is the power of the devil.  Many of these people are more afraid of the devil than they are of God. 

I have heard people say that before Christ the devil didn’t bother them much, but now that they are Christians they are bothered all the time.  Many leave Christ because of fear of the devil.  They give the devil more power than God.

You shouldn’t be surprised by the attacks and you should also know that you are not alone.  People all over the world are experiencing the same thing as you.  Some have faced much worse.  Some have been tortured, jailed and even martyred for their faith.

We must become stronger in our hearts.  We must be thankful for the trials, attacks and tribulations that come because we know we are suffering because of our faith.  When I enter into suffering with thankfulness, it makes it much easier to endure.  The enemy doesn’t know what to do when you thank God for all the negative that comes upon your life.

Perhaps you are like me and get overwhelmed when the attack is heaviest.  That is when I get others to pray for me.  That is when I turn to God and remind Him that He is my shelter and my rock.  I have even complained to Him about the attack.  He is kind to me.  He always sends the fresh rains of His Spirit.  He sets my spirit free in the midst of the attack.

Just yesterday I was bombarded by lies from the enemy.  I had my wife pray.  Last night the Lord gave me a dream and I woke feeling wonderful.  Today I am not the same.  The same spirit may try to lie to me, but I am over it and not under it.  My hope is in God alone.

I pray for you today and ask God to give you joy in the midst of the trial.  Your destiny depends on you knowing that God will be faithful even when you are attacked.  Don’t worry about a thing, because in Christ God has you covered.  Get ready for blessing in the place of suffering.

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. (I John 3:19-22)

This is a very important test in Christ that I have used many times over and over.   We must be conscious of our emotional states.  When we are outside of God’s best, then all kinds of turmoil comes upon us.  This to me is a sign that I need to hear from the Lord.  If my conscience condemns me, then I cannot rest until peace returns to my heart.

When I sin, I can feel the weight of it.  Sometimes you might even deal with shame or guilt.  When your conscience is not clean, it is a sign that you have to seek the Lord for forgiveness and maybe even deliverance.

If the sin that you are bound by is so oppressive that you are not able to escape it, then this likely is a sign that you need to be delivered from that sin.  Sin that binds this way is often rooted in a deep wound or inner lie that is reinforced by demonic oppression.

To get freedom we must always turn to the finished work of Christ on the cross.  There is no other freedom known to man than Jesus.  As I repent of my sin, I am set free.

When I seek the Lord, He will often bring me back to the root where the sin took hold of me in order to deal spiritually with it.  Some of the sins that bind us are generational in nature, but there is generally a moment in our own lives when we come into agreement with that sin.

These moments of agreement are like contracts with the enemy.  It gives the devil a legal right to haunt you throughout your life.  These are like open doors where the enemy will steal, kill or destroy your life.  We need Jesus to come and apply the blood above these doors so that the devourer no longer has a right to come in.

When such a door is revealed in my life, I ask God to show me what to do.  Recently he showed me that I had come into agreement with a lie that said, “I was from the lowest class and would never fit into the upper ranks.”  The enemy spoke this lie over my life when I was young – around 5.  It had room to grow there because generationally family had believed this over their lives.  For my entire life I spoke this lie over myself which empowered the enemy to stop me from rising into the place that God had ordained for me.

When I repented for coming into agreement with this lie, the power it had was broken from my life and I was delivered from the voice of my enemy.  No longer can He speak this over me, because I have repented for it.  He now knows that it doesn’t have power over me.  The Lord has set me free and therefore I am free indeed.

Once I have repented, the Lord is able to bless my life in a new way and my conscience becomes cleaner.  These lies no longer have power over me and I live in greater peace.  This peace is a sign of my deliverance. 

I believe this is one of the major keys to a blessed life.  As you learn to do this more and more, you will soon realize the power of doing it.  If I were you, I would pray to God today and ask Him to show you the lies that you have come into agreement with.  When He reveals them, repent and see your freedom come.

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. (I John 3:7-9)

We must be born again in Christ in order to experience the new nature God has for us.  That nature is the new wine of God’s presence living inside of us guiding us into all right conduct and behavior.  Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”  His good purpose is for you to be grafted into the vine and to live a life not bound by sin and oppression and to be fruitful.

When the Spirit of God begins to operate inside of us, we are born into a new experience.  The dirt and turmoil of our past lives is lifted from us and the new wine which comes by a supernatural encounter with God begins to change our lives.

The head master of the wedding banquet in John 2:10 said regarding the miracle of the wine, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”  To me this man is prophesying about the work that Christ is about to do to the nature of man.

Because of the work on the cross, a supernatural transformation took place.  The dirty water in the clay pots of mankind was turned–by the work of Christ–into the best wine.  This is accomplished in our lives by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit working in us.

Jesus said that He is coming for a church without ‘spot’ or ‘wrinkle.’  This sounds like a completely transformed church to me.  I believe we are entering into the hour of the spotless bride.

This nature that we come to in Christ is a sinless nature.  Those who begin to walk the path of Christ have experienced being released from old sins that once bound us.  Indeed if you have walked the path long enough, then you have experienced release from many sins.  Your new nature begins to amaze you because no longer do you look like the sinner than you once were.  The bondage of depression and anxiety is lifted and peace takes its place.

I don’t think we can enter into the time of the spotless bride unless we begin to believe that is what God wants to do.  There are many Christians who do not believe that they can be free from sin.  I wonder if this mindset is not stopping the church from becoming the radiant bride.

We need to pray that God will help us to believe that we can be transformed.  Indeed it sounds like John thought that you would recognize Christians because they would be sin free.  He thought that if you sinned you were of the devil.  How many of us ministers would say that today?  How many of us would rather offer counseling than deliverance?  How many of us would rather put together a self-help program than declare a miracle of healing of sin?

The next time you are tempted to think that it is you who works and wills sin out of your life, remember this is a lie and that God works and wills sin out of your life for His good pleasure.  This is the grace of God.  All you have to do is agree with His work in your life and repent and forgive.   As you do, you will become free.

As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life. (I John 2:24-25)

The promise of eternal life is enough to keep me on the path of life.  I don’t want to miss that ship to the heavenly shore.  I want to be in the chorus of the saints that have made it through all the trials and tribulations of this life and are rewarded for their faithfulness by the Father.

I have been blessed to see many signs and wonders in my life and in my ministry, but I would walk away from all of that to gain eternal life.

My desire is to be grounded in the word of God and not to add to it at all.  I want to only preach what God puts in my heart.  My deepest prayer is for the orthodox message of Christ to be my very breath so that when I get up to preach, His truth is all that comes forth.

I do not want to lose my soul by preaching something that is not in the word of God.  I want to be faithful to His word so that those that hear what I preach encounter His word.

I recently heard a prophecy from a brother from 1965.  He said that many ministers would rise in the coming glory revival that would walk in great signs and wonders.  He said that many of these would fall away because they would preach a gospel of their own hearts rather than from the word of God and that many would be led astray as a result.

My blood curdled when I heard this word.  I don’t know why a person would want to add anything to God’s word.  It is powerful enough to separate bone from marrow.  What can you hope to accomplish by adding something more to it?

When I hear a word like this, my eyes turn inward and I begin to examine the things that I have said.  I must be honest before the Lord and ask Him to show me areas where I err and where repentance might be necessary, but I must not be so concerned about being wrong that I stop preaching.  The fear of the Lord will keep me in all things even from error.

When we speak, we must keep our hearts on the orthodoxy of our faith which is that Jesus Christ died on a cross for our sins so that we could be freed from the bonds of sin and death in which we were bound by the old nature. 

We must continue to be witnesses that Jesus died but rose again, so that in the same way we will rise out of the ashes of our old nature into that glorious nature, the fullness of which we still do not understand. 

We must declare the hope that we have in Christ that just as He is seated by the heavenly Father so shall we be seated in heavenly places if we continue to remain in Him.

It is when I preach this message that the most miracles follow.  As I speak this over people’s lives, the most tremendous signs and wonders happen.  Many are transformed when I declare that they shall be made new in Christ.  Many testify to feeling their natures change.

It is the grace of God that will keep you, so continue in His word.  Continue to study to show yourself approved.  Repent for the things that you have done that are evil and forgive those that have hurt you.  In so doing you will remain and your salvation will be assured, all by the grace of God.

I pray that you will be strengthened in the truth of the gospel and that you and I will be together for evermore in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. (I John 2:9-11)

Have you ever struggled with hatred in your heart toward a fellow believer?  I will be honest with you–I have had such struggles in my life, and not just once.

I am thankful for the word of God.  I am thankful for passages like the one above in 1 John 2.  If it wasn’t for such Scriptures, I would have no idea that the hatred that was in my heart was sin.  When I encounter the word of God, it makes me look into my heart and forces me to deal with the difficult emotions and feelings that I have.

I am not a perfect man and I am not always a kind man or a wise one, but I love the Lord, and pleasing Him is my heart’s desire.  So when I encounter hatred in my heart and become aware that it doesn’t please Him, then I begin to pray to Him and ask Him to root it out.

Sometimes the hatred is linked to jealousy.  I see a brother who has more than I do and I want what he has.  In those moments I ask the Lord to open my eyes to my own blessings of which there are many.  I might not be a millionaire, but I might as well be because the blessings upon my life are greater than all the millions that you could give me.

When I begin to celebrate the blessings of God upon my own life, then I can celebrate the blessings of God in your life.

Perhaps you have even gone out of your way to make someone else look bad.  This too is hatred.  Have you ever found yourself talking about this person or that one endeavouring to discredit them so that others will look on you with favour instead?

This might be a good short term strategy, but it will curse you in the end. I have had to deal with this in my life, even in the ministry.  There have been times that I have spoken against other ministers because I didn’t want them to have opportunities that I thought were mine.

This is small-minded thinking for which I have repented time and time again.  We have to realize that when God’s word says that the harvest is plentiful and the labourers are few, that this is true.

God has not only had me to repent of these things, but He has also had me open doors in ministry for the ones that I used to speak against.  I have learned that God’s ways are greater than my ways and that opening doors for others pleases Him so much that He will open countries for me.

We must turn from our dark ways.  It is the only way to ensure continuous blessing in our lives.  We must continue in the word and seek His voice.  We must run from hatred of every kind and continue to be kind and loving.  We must learn to love one another and bless one another.

I pray for you today and ask God to heal your heart so that you can love more easily.  I pray that you will not be another believer’s enemy but their truest friend.  I ask the Lord to help you to bless people even when they spitefully use you.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (I John 2:15-17) 

The things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of Jesus’ face.  There are many things that would distract a man or woman of God from entering into the place of God’s presence.  I have seen many pulled to the side because they have desired what this world offers more than Christ.

I remember one man that came to Christ because of a powerful encounter that he had.  He went about testifying in many places and indeed led many to Christ through the power of that encounter, but he fell away once his business was threatened to go under.  I often wonder who that man might have become if he had entered more deeply into Christ in that moment.

This man turned back to his way of life and even stopped going to church.  It was very sad for his family whom he had led to Christ in the first place, see this change.  And yet, I believe, God’s grace will touch him and bring him back again.

There are Christians who will not listen to Christian music because it is boring in their eyes or will not watch Christian movies because they are not as good as a secular movie.  These folks seem more interested in their enjoyment than the pleasure of God.

I remember when I came to Christ I was concerned that I would not find music that I could enjoy, but I decided that in order to enter into the fullness of God I couldn’t allow my mind to be consumed by the world’s thoughts through music.  I prayed a prayer and asked God to lead me to music that would satisfy my ears and soul. 

From that day to this, when I pray for a new album it comes to me.  I have never regretted walking away from that music.  Now when I listen to it, all I hear is sadness and godliness and I don’t believe that I would have heard this unless I walked away.

Some seem more interested in what is happening on Broadway in New York City than they do in the local church.  They will spend thousands of dollars on ungodly media and be left unsatisfied from the experience.  Oh sure, they can say that they went to such and such a play or performance, but what is that to the true riches of God.

He has so much more for you.  You will be surprised at the journey that He has in store.  He will bring you places that you never would have considered.  You will experience the true riches of the Kingdom as you walk away from the world more and more.

All the things of the world that you consider so important will fade away.  Why hold onto them any longer.  Why not let God become the center of every thought.  Why not let Him fulfill your every desire.  There are sounds that only come from heaven.  There are visions you will not see until you give up this world.

I can assure you that the things of this world will grow strangely dim as you look into the face of your magnificent God.  Get ready for a new visitation as you gaze upon him today.