Loved and Protected

Before Jesus healed the sick He always asked them what they wanted Him to do.

He never presumed anything. He was God incarnate who was omniscient. He already knew what they needed, but He never presumed. He made them ask.

Do we ask? Do we even know what it is we want? Do we want to be stirred deep inside us to be used for God and to glorify Him in all we do and say? Or are we living for ourselves and what we can get?

Are we willing to examine our hearts, go before God and say we’re willing to respond when He convicts us of going our own way in rebellion or at least living with one foot in each world. It’s because of our willfulness that we as believers in America have made no headway in winning our world. We as a generation are lukewarm, with divided hearts. Our allegiance is not to God alone, which means we have no power in the spirit. In fact, we are scarcely recognizable as Christians.

It’s time for that to stop. It’s time for us to be wake up to be raised from sleep, for we are, currently, giving place to the devil rather than to God.

I challenge you to ask the Lord to reveal what’s down deep in your heart. If you’re really willing, God will show you what He sees, and He will transform us into the image of His Son.

Dare we go hot after God holding nothing back? Will we ask God for everything He has for us, not just in material things but for power in the spirit.

I will no longer settle for the old, dead stuff of our day. Join me and fall in love with Jesus. Settle for nothing less than the fire of God in your belly. Let’s live for God as if today was the last day of our lives.

Because of His great love,

Nancy 

Have you ever heard this phrase before? It’s a quote from Old Testament Scriptures and it’s always confused me. But simply put, it means He is the one and only God, and there is no other.

Now you might ask the point of such a statement, but all throughout history there have been other gods competing for first place in man’s heart. Ever since the beginning of time other things have captured his attention and admiration, and have distracted him from the truth–that there is only one God–Jehovah who is worthy of all our praise.

And nothing’s really changed since that time. Today we have many things vying for our attention, and in their own ways each one becomes a little god distracting us from true worship of Jesus Christ.

Back in those days there were idols of clay, iron, wood and stone, while today we have a million things to worship though we would never call it that.

But think about it. What pulls you away from spending time with God–from basking in His presence, from seeking His will and direction for your life, for your family, for your future?

Entertainment is one of the current passions I see these days. That and money, and in a way they go hand in hand. Video games, MTV, electronic gadgets keep young people mesmerized for hours on end. My generation is captivated by books, television, movies and some of those same gadgets.

I’ve noticed that on HGTV most homes are sold based on their ability to comfortably accommodate guests for entertainment purposes.

In a nutshell the whole issue is what we do with our time. Do we think about shopping, eating, watching movies, spending time with others rather than with God? Do we want to hear what He thinks, how He feels, and what He wants us to do? Or do we even care?

Do we take time to read His Word, seeking rhema words just for us, to comfort and encourage us?

We dare not let the cares of the world steal from us what we need most–an incredible, supernatural relationship with the great God of the universe, who loves us unconditionally and has a plan for each of our lives. But we must not forget we will be judged if we fail to live out that plan.

Let’s not let the cares of the world choke out the root of the gospel and lose the pearl of great price whose value we have obviously misjudged.

Let a word to the wise be sufficient.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

Do you think it sounds ridiculous to tell others to praise God when things are going wrong? Well, guess what? To worship and praise God actually puts our enemy the devil to flight. True worship and praise is a very powerful thing.  

Satan hates it when he hears God praised, and in fact, he can’t stand being in the presence of true worship.

It can also break strongholds and transform us merely by getting us into that secret place where God’s Spirit can minister to us, lifting us above our circumstances.

How amazing that merely setting our hearts toward God can have such a powerful impact.

He has made a way for us in every area of our lives. He created us with bodies that are complex and detailed, intricate in design, miracles in themselves if we really think about it. And not only that but He loves us with a perfect love that casts out fear and doubt if we get into faith and hold on tight. He prepares the way before us with His Word and gives us both wisdom and revelation to instruct us in the way we should go. He protects us and provides for us in supernatural ways.

Sometimes when I’m driving in the city, the near misses are countless, and I know He has angels watching over me. The truth is we don’t even know the things He actually prevents from happening to us, who are beloved in His sight.

So can we get excited about what we have in Jesus? We’d better or Scripture says the very rocks will cry out.

Let’s meditate on the incredible love of God and praise Him like it’s our very chance. We’ll be blessed, refreshed, and changed in the process.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

 How far in the natural will we go to get the things we want? Many will go to great lengths for money or things, but what about when it comes to going hot after God?

This morning in prayer the Lord reminded me that many of our prayers go unanswered the same way our spiritual gifts do, because we really aren’t pressing in, eager to get them, and willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

First and foremost in order for our prayers to be answered on a regular basis, we need a personal relationship with Christ. We must have appropriated or accepted His gift of salvation.

Second–we must focus on true worship of God and make Him the focus of all we do and say.

Third–we must want it bad enough to go after answers to prayer and revelations of the Spirit.

Fourth–we must consider God’s opinion more important than other people’s opinions. We must be willing to make fools of ourselves if we have to, to get what we need from the Lord.

In order to press in toward God we will need to be willing to risk our reputation in the eyes of men, even other believers, and seek God, not taking no for an answer. In Scripture, our examples are those who would not let go until they got answers. Will we follow after them?

Scripture repeatedly says that the Lord will not hide Himself from those who earnestly seek Him. The key here is the word “earnestly.”

How bad do we want what we pray for? Most of us have had times when things were so desperate that we stayed on our knees for extended periods begging God for answers. And He showed Himself faithful during those times, in one way or another, didn’t He?

Well, during the good times, we seldom spend much time in prayer because the needs aren’t as pressing. Isn’t that so? The truth is that somewhere in the world the needs are desperate and people are dying without Christ, going through the fire in every conceivable way. But do we care?

I’m afraid we take little compassion on those who are out of sight and out of mind. Rather, we tend to thank God we aren’t in their situation. It’s true, isn’t it?

But what does that say about us? It says that we scarcely resemble our compassionate Christ at all.

A sad commentary indeed. But here’s the thing. We don’t have to settle for mediocre Christianity anymore. We don’t have to merely go through the motions of playing a part, playing church instead of truly worshiping God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength. We don’t have to be self-centered, caring only for ourselves. These things should bring us up short, seeing how far from the mark we are.

I’m desperately pressing in, frantically believing God for more of His presence and power. More love, more compassion for the hurting, more fire of the Spirit and more of everything He has for me. I want to have something passionate to live for, a reason to get up in the morning and be excited about, and that focus must be to seek a new and real revelation of Jesus.

Come with me, won’t you? Let go of dead, fake Christianity and seek the real thing.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

For the past two weeks I’ve struggled with what I now know is spiritual warfare. Without work or B&B guests since the first of July, I was wondering what was going on after having two months of abundant blessing that we were able to share almost entirely with those in need.

The thing is, my friend Gideon, a pastor/evangelist in Kenya said that after praying he believes the enemy has sent hindering spirits to try to stop some kind of huge breakthrough God has for us. And because we have been sending funds to Kenya to feed the starving that has brought a huge harvest of souls the enemy is desperate to stop us.

During this spring season government red tape stopped work on a burned out four plex my husband’s construction crew had been working on, and it has not yet resumed. And in the past month he also injured his right knee, which has not yet recovered.

And the kicker is this: Monday I learned that my webmaster has no time to work with me right now, because of schedule conflicts. All this when I have a new ebook to put on my site, called Winning the War on Depression. I believe it’s a very important book, using sound biblical principles to set people free from the terrible bondage of depression.

So that meant I needed to find another webmaster. The Lord led me to just the right person for the job, but after hours and hours of trying we just could not get the FTP/usernames and passwords to work for us. I was terribly frustrated, using every means possible to get answers. I gave three entire days, multiple emails, phone calls, online chats with my server, and much prayer to the effort to break through and clear up these issues. But nothing worked.

Then last night God made a way, and my ex-webmaster finally determined the source of the problem. And I can’t tell you how relieved I was. This was the beginning of our breakthrough.

I am rejoicing and praising God today because He lifted the heavy load from my heart during the night last night, and I’m excited to see how He’s going to take care of every other single issue.

When praying during this time of warfare, the Lord showed me that angels were warring for us against satanic forces that were hindering the outpouring God had for us. He told me to wait, to hold on, to stand in faith, and believe Him for a breakthrough. And it took everything I had not to feel overwhelmed.

Satan knows the great Holy Spirit outpouring is coming, and that his time is limited, and he’s pouring it on, hindering, tripping us up and laying us flat on our faces whenever he can.

So you and I must understand something–if you and I are suffering when we are eagerly awaiting Jesus’ return and loving and serving God with all our hearts, we can be sure it’s Satan’s last stand to hinder God’s plan to bless and use us before Jesus comes again.

And when these things happen to us, we need to stop and think, and ask God what is happening. And we need to stop before we get into panic, and instead ask for wisdom, direction, and breakthrough. We must begin to worship and praise God with everything in us, which, in turn will empower His angels to win over our enemies. And when they overcome the evil ones you and I will see the glory of God revealed as never before in a breakthrough.

I’ve asked God for enough money to freely pour out on the truly needy for the glory of God, so that hearts will be open to the preaching of Christ.

If you are going through stress and want, just know God’s angels are warring for you. As you pray and worship God with all your heart, mind and soul, they will break through, but it’s up to you in the meantime not to panic, not to give up hope or become depressed or despair.  

Hope in the Lord and in the power of His might, and may He bless you mightily.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

This morning I was reading 2 Timothy 4:3-4, and was interested in what Paul said. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.”

This isn’t describing unbelievers, but Christians–believers who have already tasted and known that the Lord is good. So what happened to them?

After considering the cost they decided weren’t going to submit to God, doing the hard thing, by which we are truly saved until the end.

I truly believe those who have known the gospel and walked away will receive a greater judgment in hell, because they are not ignorant of God’s grace, but because they tasted and then rejected it.

This Scripture passage reminds me how vital it is to guard our hearts, to enter into our secret place with God, submitting our hearts to Him, stirring up the fire within us, instead of wandering off, becoming lukewarm, and eventually walking away from everything because we’ve deemed it too much of a sacrifice.

What exactly do we think we are sacrificing? Our own way. Elevating ourselves and our plans over the will of God for our lives. 

We see it happening all the time, how those who were once hot for God have cooled until they shake their heads and walk away.

Jesus sacrificed everything for us. He left heaven to submit to God so we could receive salvation, deliverance, unconditional love, and intimacy with the Father, and yet we thumb our nose at this amazing gift and say we don’t want it.

Let us examine our hearts, for God says in His Word that the day of grace will soon end, and those who have rejected Him will have no more time to change their minds. 

Lord, let them see their end, before it’s too late that they might repent and turn and go God’s way, before time runs out.

Let a word to the wise be sufficient.

Because of His great love,

Nancy 

I Corinthians 13 is called the love chapter and for good reason. It’s the proving ground for true Christ-likeness. In fact Jesus loved His enemies as an example for us.

How did He do that? Well, believe it or not even Jesus had to submit to the will of His Father, in order to have supernatural love. This is exactly what it takes for us to love the unlovable including those who hate us. 

Have you noticed? It’s just as Scripture says–I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But without Him I can do nothing.

The point I’m trying to make is this. We Christians major on everything but what is important, don’t we? We’ve settled for a second-rate fraud that only faintly resembles real Christianity, with most of us merely doing our carnal best, which is meaningless and worthless, because we’re doing it in our flesh. Why do we settle for less? Because the real thing demands submission of our wills to God’s will. And that’s not easy to do, is it?

Even Jesus had to submit to God in order to be a useful vessel. Do you realize that if He hadn’t chosen to submit, He would never have gone to the cross in the first place? And if He hadn’t, you and I would have no hope of salvation. Just think of it. That’s how vital it is to submit to God. Our ability to submit can change the course of history, even change the world or hinder the plan of God.

So, who’s going to come out on top in this struggle between self and submission? God or us?

In the days ahead I believe it will be hard to be a believer. And when that day comes, it will be obvious which way we’ve gone–whether we’ve chosen to submit to God or to elevate ourselves over His will for us. 

It won’t be pretty, but it will be clear, not only to us but to the world. So we dare not let ourselves be deceived believing we are good enough to call ourselves believers without submitting to God. It doesn’t work, and it never will.

We absolutely must get get this right if we want to win the world for Christ. I pray that God will replace our hearts of stone with hearts of compassion. I’m asking Him to help me see past what’s so apparent, to see the pain and circumstances behind the behaviors so I can feel compassion and grief over the pain of others. And when I can love like that, it will draw men to Christ as nothing else can. Let’s submit to God so they will know us by our love.

Help us, Lord, to love like Jesus loves, submitting to You so You can pour love and compassion through us to those You want to win. In Jesus’ wonderful name, amen.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

Last night I was listening to Perry Stone from Manna Fest Ministries, and he said something I have never put together before.

He was speaking on the subject of how to overcome fear of the future. He said that in everyone’s life famine will come. By that he meant that at some point we would all have struggle with job losses or other troubles that could make us wonder how we will provide for our families.

Then he said that in every generation God has raised up those who ministered to the needs of others. And though this is not new information he said that when we belong to God we have a covenant relationship with Him, meaning He always keeps the promises He makes. He never takes lightly His covenant with us. If we belong to Him He will find a way to provide for us when our jobs are gone. The key is to trust God rather than trusting our jobs or the arm of the flesh.

He said something else that makes perfect sense. He said we dare not let fear and doubt come in during times like these, because fear can cause us to grasp at foolish choices, and cause us to follow after evil rather than waiting on God.

He said that in the Old Covenant God gave us the power to make wealth, a blessing in order to be faithful to support the work of the gospel. The key is not trusting in their wealth, not trying to buy their way in or out of their situations.

He said that when we are careful to be faithful to give to God He will be faithful to care for us. Because the United States has been the financier of the gospel Stone said he believes we will also be the financier of the last days harvest.

So what will we do when it looks like we’re going down financially? Will we continue to give to God and believe Him to make a way? Or will we fall into fear and grasp at foolish things, holding onto what little we have, withholding from God?

It’s essential at times like these that we stay in the Word and dump our needs at God’s feet, and at that point He will keep us in peace, because perfect love casts out fear. So let’s bask in His love and let Him lead us.

Because of His great love,

Nancy

So often the Lord gives me what I would call hard messages, but today He wants to lift us up.

God actually operates in a very interesting way. Much like a parent who loves His children He gets after them when they’re off track. But if they are obedient and long to please Him He has no need to play the part of the tough parent. In that case He can be our friend.

Isn’t that amazing? When we respond to Holy Spirit conviction and repent He becomes our friend rather than our judge. He walks alongside us and encourages us, lifting us up and reminding us of His great love and His plans to use us.

Jeremiah 32:41 says: And I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

God says He sings a song of rejoicing over us when we draw near, with clean hands and a pure heart.

We have such a wonderful God! He created us, knows and understands us intimately, forgives us, provides for us, redeems us from the hands of the enemy, protects and guides us, gives us a direct line to heaven’s wisdom, and will take us to heaven when our lives are over.

So how is it we can know these things and not get excited about Jesus?

Lord, forgive us for going our own way and reveal yourself to us in all your glory, so that we might catch the vision the rest of the world can see, but to which we ourselves seem blind.

Let’s ask Him to stir up the fire within us so we fall in love with Him all over again. 

Because of His great love,

Nancy

Prayer changes things–we’ve all heard that phrase and even seen it on plaques that hung on our grandmothers’ dining room walls. But what do we know about prayer?

Well, last night God reminded me of something that I had forgotten, that sometimes it takes prevailing prayer to get an answer.

Right now I have a prayer need that I feel is desperate and I’ve been praying about it for over a week. I want to send another $thousand to Pastor Gideon Mudenyo, who is feeding starving people and ministering to them with the truth of the gospel, and seeing hundreds and thousands of people come to know Christ, with evidence of miraculous healings and miracles. For the past 3 1/2 months the Lord has allowed me enough to send that amount about every 2-3 weeks, which has never happened any other time in my life, but I asked Him to help me, and He honored my request.

Tomorrow the last of that food will be gone, and the crop they planted with the seeds they bought a month ago won’t be mature for 6 weeks, which means I need a thousand for tomorrow and another thousand in two weeks and maybe in four weeks.

Why am I mentioning this? Because I have nothing to send tomorrow, and it’s been heavy on my heart. This is my mission, and I take it very seriously, believing God will make a way.

But how? Well, last night He reminded me that sometimes the enemy hinders the answer to our prayers coming in a timely manner. Sometimes the angels have to fight to get through them to address our needs.

So what can we do about it? We can prevail in prayer, by not just whispering a short minute-long prayer, but by pressing in, and staying on our faces before God until He releases us and says we can stop, because the answer is on the way.

I’m going to do that today, believing God will make a way where right now, there is none.

Will you stand with me? People, and especially little children are dying of starvation in Kenya, and it breaks my heart. Does that knowledge affect you?

If we have God’s heart of compassion we will take pity on the lost, the needy and the suffering, and open our pocketbooks in order to be the hands of Christ extended.

I’m anxious to see what God is going to do in response to prevailing prayer. I’ll keep you posted.

Because of His great love,

Nancy