THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

GOD’S WORD IS LIKE A SHIELD, IT PROTECTS YOU

Did you know that the Word of God has the power to PROTECT you and keep you from doing the things you KNOW you shouldn’t DO? Hebrews tells us that the Word of God is LIVING and ACTIVE; it’s POWERFUL in our lives. God communicates to us through His written Word, the Bible, and He COMMUNICATES with us through His SPOKEN Word, which can come in MANY ways. In Scripture, God spoke to people through a burning bush, a still small voice, and even a donkey. Today, He may speak to your heart through a FRIEND, a worship SONG, or something in CREATION. One thing is for sure, when He DOES speak, your spirit KNOWS it. There is CONFIRMATION in your inner man. God ALWAYS speaks truth, and TRUTH always sets you free!

God’s Word also PROTECTS you. When you hold His Word close to your heart, it acts like a SHIELD around your heart. You hold His Word close to you by MEDITATING on it, FOCUSING on it, THINKING about it and DECLARING it. As you allow His truth to sink into your SPIRIT, it will EMPOWER you and CHANGE you. It will EQUIP you to live the GOOD life He has prepared for you!

Today’s Scripture:

“Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

(Psalm 119:11, AMPC)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

BLESS OTHERS AND GOD WILL CERTAINLY BLESS YOU IN RETURN

The Scripture encourages us to use our words to BLESS people. “To bless” means to SPEAK WELL of, to pronounce FAVOR, and to declare GOOD things. People in your life need to receive YOUR blessing, especially your spouse and children. Are you giving your children the blessings of LOVE, AFFECTION and ENCOURAGEMENT? Are you speaking words that build them UP and bless their FUTURE?

You may not have received this approval from your own parents. Perhaps there wasn’t a lot of LOVE in your home. Perhaps your mom or dad always talked down to you. Let us challenge you to be the one to BREAK the stronghold over your family. Decide today that you are going to stop talking down to others. Choose instead to ENCOURAGE others. Stop focusing on what OTHERS are doing wrong and start THANKING them for what they are doing RIGHT.

Begin right now to BLESS others’ FUTURES. Your decision to be a POSITIVE influence will have a greater IMPACT on your family than you could EVER imagine. It will affect generations to come. Speak these BLESSINGS over your family, your children, and those whom you love and care for. If you will BLESS others, God will CERTAINLY bless your own life beyond what you EVER hoped or dreamed.

Today’s Scripture:

Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

James 3:10, NIV

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

GET READY BECAUSE GOD HAS SOME “WOWS” IN YOUR FUTURE

You’ve heard the phrase “the night shift.” It refers to people who work during the NIGHT. Today’s Scripture says that God NEVER sleeps. He doesn’t just WORK the night shift, He SHIFTS things in the night. YOU may be in a night season, and you may not see how the difficulties you face can work OUT. Don’t WORRY. God SPRCIALIZES in shifting things in the dark. The God who works the NIGHT shift is going to shift things in your FAVOR. There’s going to be a shift in your HEALTH, a shift in your FINANCES, a shift with that ADDICTION. You THINK you’re going to have it for years. It LOOKS permanent. NO, get ready for a NIGHT shift.

Right NOW, God is working the night shift for YOU. When you wake up and see what He’s been UP to, the first thing you’re going to SAY is, “WOW, God, I never DREAMED You’d take me here!” “I never dreamed I’d be this HEALTHY again!” Get ready because God has some “WOWS” in YOUR future.

Today’s Scripture:

Psalm 121:4, NIV

Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

YOU DON’T HAVE TO SEE HOW, JUST AGREE AND SAY, “LORD, I BELIEVE”…..

When GOD gives you a promise, He gives the “YES”, saying He’s going to DO it, but that is not ENOUGH. You have to add the “AMEN” to it, which means you’re saying, “I BELIEVE it. God, I’m in AGREEMENT with You.” When He says, “I will bring you to a FLOURISHING finish,” your response should just be three simple words: “Lord, I BELIEVE.” When He promises, “I will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that you cannot CONTAIN,” don’t say, “I can’t see how that is POSSIBLE.” You don’t HAVE to see how. Just AGREE and say, “Lord, I BELIEVE.” When He says, “I will RESTORE the years that were stolen,” don’t go by what you see at the MOMENT. Just add your AMEN: “Lord, I BELIEVE.”

You may think of a THOUSAND reasons why a promise from God is not going to happen. I can give you one GREAT reason why it WILL happen: The Creator of the universe has DECLARED it. He doesn”t go BACK on His word.

Today’s Scripture:

2 Corinthians 1:20, NIV

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO END UP WITH LESS WHEN YOU GIVE TO OTHERS WHO ARE IN NEED

Today’s Scripture COULD read like a CONTRADICTION, but God’s ways are not OUR ways. Everything IN you may say, “If I’m going to fix my FINANCES and overcome my PROBLEMS, I don’t have the money or the TIME to help anyone else. When I get MY problems solved, I’ll help OTHERS.” NO, giving your time, energy, and resources to helping OTHERS in THEIR time of need is what’s going to open the windows of HEAVEN and cause your problems to turn AROUND. You’re NEVER going to end up with LESS.

Here’s the BEAUTY: When you help OTHERS, what you GIVE is going to come BACK to you not in the SAME proportion, but pressed down, shaken together, and running OVER. It’s a SEED you’re sowing that’s going to keep coming BACK to you and MULTIPLYING. When you live a life of GENEROSITY, when you make sacrifices to help OTHER people rise HIGHER, it’s not just going to affect YOU, it’s to going to affect your CHILDREN. It’s going to be MORE than you imagined.

Today’s Scripture:

Proverbs 11:24, TLB

It is possible to give away and become richer! It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

GOD KNOWS HOW TO MAKE GREATNESS, FROM A GREAT MESS

At the age of sixteen, Ishmael found himself abandoned in the desert confused, rejected, out of water and food. He was born and raised in the dysfunctional relationship between his mother and Abraham and Sarah. HE was paying the price for the strife and division in the family that he was not RESPONSIBLE for and could not CONTROL, dealing with the consequences of THEIR poor choices. Sent away from his home and about to DIE, this young man’s cry was heard by GOD, who not only SAVED him AND his mother but promised to make a great NATION out of Ishmael.

God was showing us that HE knows how to bring GREATNESS out of a great MESS. YOU may have had a rough start, the odds have been AGAINST you, but GOD is watching over you. He knows what you didn’t GET. He knows who wasn’t in your LIFE. He knows the pain, the betrayal, and the HURT. Call OUT to Him. He has a plan to make more out of your life than you EVER imagined.

Today’s Scripture:

Genesis 21:17, NIV

God heard the boy crying…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

TODAY I DECLARE THAT YOUR DAYS OF STRUGGLE, SICKNESS AND LONLINESS HAVE COME TO AN END! GOD IS ABOUT TO DO A NEW THING!!

YOU may have struggled in an area for a LONG time, but don’t have a limited mindset. You have to give God PERMISSION to increase you. It starts in your THINKING. If you grew up in lack, not having enough, surrounded by mediocrity, don’t let that poverty SPIRIT get in or STAY in you. That is NOT who you are. You’re the one to BREAK the curse and set a NEW standard. God is about to loose resources, promotion, ideas, and OPPORTUNITIES for you. You have seeds of GREATNESS. You are NOT limited by how you were raised, by your family, by what you didn’t GET. You’re not a slave to LACK, depression, or FEAR. The oppressor has been DEFEATED. Your days of struggle, your days of sickness, your days of loneliness are coming to an END. God is about to do a NEW thing. He’s going to BREAK bondages that have held you BACK. Have a vision for INCREASE. See yourself as a child of GOD rising HIGHER.

Today’s Scripture:

Habakkuk 2:3, TLB

Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

TAKE OFF THE MASK AND LIVE HONESTLY BEFORE GOD AND HE’LL TAKE YOU FURTHER THAN YOU’VE EVER DREAMED

In John 4, Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well and told her He could give her “LIVING water,” meaning eternal LIFE. When she ASKED Him for that water, He said she should first go and get her HUSBAND. In THAT moment, I imagine that time STOPPED for this woman. She’d had FIVE husbands, and now she was living with a man to whom she wasn’t MARRIED. She had made many MISTAKES, was loaded with GUILT and SHAME, and had been MISTREATED. Everything IN her said, “HIDE your failures and hurts. Pretend you’re OKAY.” But after years of wearing MASKS, she said, “NO more covering it up. I’m going to be HONEST.” She DID, and her life was TRANSFORMED. Jesus REVEALED Himself to her as the MESSIAH.

God KNOWS your past mistakes, weaknesses, fears, and guilt. Why don’t YOU take off the mask and live HONESTLY before God, asking Him for His GRACE and STRENGTH? That’s when He’ll break bondages that are holding you BACK and take you further than you’ve ever DREAMED!

Today’s Scripture:

John 4:16–17, MSG

He said, “Go call your husband and then come back.” “I have no husband,” she said.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

GOD’S POWER IS ALWAYS GOIING TO BE GREATER THAT WHAT’S TRYING TO STOP YOU

God has made us a NEW creation in CHRIST, but He DOESN’T take away every negative DESIRE, where you’re never tempted to be impatient, critical, rude, angry, jealous, or to COMPROMISE again. Some people let the same personal enemies, the sour ATTITUDE, the ADDICTION, the un-FORGIVNESS hold them back for YEARS. EVERYBODY struggles with some wrong desires, but don’t EXCUSE them and allow them to STAY. That’s why the apostle PAUL says, “I die DAILY.” He was SAYING, “When that temptation rises up inside AGAIN, I put it STRAIGHT back in the grave.”

This is where the abounding grace of GOD shows up. You have the grace to OVERCOME. The temptation may not ever totally go AWAY, the DESIRE may be there, but God’s GRACE, His enabling POWER, will ALWAYS be greater than what’s trying to STOP you. His grace is GREATER than a critical attitude OR an addiction. If you deal with the things that are holding you BACK, God will release the BIG things that BELONG to you.

Today’s Scripture

Romans 5:20, NKJV

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more…

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

WITH EVERY EXPERIENCE COMES SOMETHING YOU’RE GOING TO USE DOWN THE ROAD

God never SAID we wouldn’t have difficulties. Being a person of faith doesn’t exempt us from challenges and unfair SITUATIONS. That’s a part of LIFE. The promise in today’s SCRIPTURE is not that you won’t have difficulties, but that God will bring you OUT of “them ALL.” When you’re in the adversity, your report should be, “I’m coming OUT. This sickness is TEMPORARY. This trouble is NOT the end. This addiction is not PERMANENT. This SLOWDOWN in my business is just for a SEASON.” Right NOW, you may not be able to SEE it, but God is in the adversity WITH you and is in the process of bringing you OUT. You’re NOT going to come out the same. You’re going to come out STRONGER, free from things that were holding you BACK, with a greater trust in GOD, a greater CONFIDENCE, a greater FAITH. That’s getting you PREPARED for the next level of your DESTINY. With every EXPERIENCE, something is DEPOSITED in you that you’re going to use down the ROAD.

Today’s Scripture:

Psalm 34:19, AMP

Many hardships and perplexing circumstances confront the righteous, but the LORD rescues him from them all.