Author: debo

One of my favorite things to do is to encourage people with specific scriptures that pertain to their situation. I can remember as a teenager, when I was first exposed to the full gospel message when I heard a lady from the pulpit give someone a specific scripture in a church service, that was like a word of knowledge just for the person in the congregation. I can remember thinking, I want to be able to do that. Well, guess what, if we hide God’s Word in our heart, God will bring His Word to our remembrance when we need them, and you can encourage someone with the very words of God. It doesn’t even have to be super-spiritual! Out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak, so what you put in, is what will come out. Let me give you an example. My second daughter was studying for a major scholastic exam. She called me discouraged that she might not do well, and right away, God’s Word started rising up in my heart. I started reminding her about what God’s word says about her. It says, that she has the mind of Christ. It says, that she can do all things through Christ who strengthens her. It says, that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. It says, that He will bring back to her remembrance all the things that she has learned. It says, that she hasn’t been given a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind. It says, that the diligent will prosper. It says, that she is more than a conqueror, and that God will give her the desires of her heart. So in a few simple moments, she went from being a little fearful, to being encouraged. What we think about really matters. If we continue to focus on the negative, we will get what we expect. The Bible says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Or as a woman thinks in her heart, so is she. So what do you choose to think about? Let’s think God’s thoughts about our life, and encourage someone else with what God thinks about them.

1 Cor 10:3-5 are 3 scriptures that are so powerful when understanding what we have to do with our thought life. There is a progression that takes place in this scripture. See if you can notice what it is. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Casting down every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. The progression is this, thoughts turn into imaginations, and imaginations can become strongholds. The key to having a healthy thought life is to deal with issues when they are in the thought stage. Since we can’t keep thoughts from coming, the moment they enter our mind is the moment we have to deal with them. If we entertain them for a while, they can move from a random thought into something we imagine ourself doing. It goes from black and white to a full color wide screen! Sin can actually be conceived when at that point. Verse three is such a big key in understanding how we deal with what is going on in our mind. It is where the biggest battle takes place for most Christians, and as verse 3 of II Corinthians 10 says, even though we are flesh, we don’t fight with weapons of flesh….our weapons are mighty in God. He has given us keys and tools to overcome, and we must choose to operate in them to live in the victory that Jesus purchased for us. We begin by taking every thought captive. That means we can’t be lackadaisical about what we think about. We have to have a purpose driven thought life. Just like we wouldn’t allow a mouse to run through our house, we would set up a trap and get that varmint out of there. We need to do the same with our mind. When even a small negative thought comes through, set up a trap, get it out of there. And do it right away. Capture that thought, so it won’t move on to the next stage of imagination or become a stronghold.

Renew your mind. That is what Romans 12:2 tells us to do. One of the synonyms for renew is to “make good”. I like the thought of “making good” your mind. There are lots of ways that thoughts come to our mind. There can be “out of the blue” thoughts, “something triggers your mind” thoughts, even smells and sights can bring up thoughts in your mind. One thing that is so necessary when it comes to our mind is recognizing where thoughts come from. Obviously there are two forces in the world, one good and one evil. So there are God thoughts, and enemy thoughts. So when a thought from the enemy settles in your mind, you can make it good, by renewing your mind to what God’s Word says. We have the ability to remove thoughts and to change our thinking by replacing them. We take the wrong thought out and replace it with the right thought. We take out the old thought and replace it with a new thought. We take out the bad thought, and “make it good”. One of the key words in Romans 12: 2 is the word transformed. In the Greek it means metamorpho, which is the root word for metamorphosis. We think of caterpillars to butterflies. One thing becomes something totally different. What was once on a lower level, now takes wings and flies! The same thing can happen with our thoughts. We can choose to think on a higher plane. We take a lower thought, and replace it with a higher thought! Romans 8:6 says that to be carnally minded (or earthly minded) is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. To think on those things which keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus, we “make good” or renew our mind to His Word.

I’m sure you are familiar with the scripture in Joshua 1:8 that says for us to meditate on the Word day and night, observe to do what is written, and then we will make our way prosperous, and the we will have good success. Just in case you think that meditation is some recent invention, it was God’s idea from very long ago. Our thought life or what we meditate on appears to be really important to our future success, from this one scripture alone. This week we’ll be concentrating on lining our thought life up with God’s thoughts. What we choose to think on has great power in our lives, because thoughts become actions, and actions demonstrate what we believe. When we become a doer of what we believe, change and growth results. So what do you believe? Are you taking time to meditate, or think on God’s Word? There is great power in the written (logos) and the spoken (rhema) Word of God. Meditation on God’s Word does the opposite of what worry does. Worry believes the worst, pictures the worst, expects the worst, and often gets the worst. Meditation believes the best (The Word), pictures the best, expects the best, and gets the best! So if you have a tendency to be a worrier, start doing this. Whenever thoughts of worry come to your mind, capture them, and replace them by meditating on God’s Word.

Instead of thoughts of going under, remember God is Jehovah Jireh, your provider, and meditate on scriptures like “my God will supply all my needs by His riches in glory”.
Instead of thoughts of catching some sickness, remember God is Jehovah Rapha, your healer and that by his stripes you were healed.
Instead of whatever you can worry about, think of what God says about the subject. His Word is what is The Truth.

Think about and believe the truth. Meditate on and act on The Truth. Then positive changes and good success will take place in you.

This week I am encouraging you in the area of renewing our mind Our soul (which is our mind, will and emotions). Hi this is Dorette with your dailyeword. Our mind needs to be renewed day by day by making our thoughts obedient to Christ. Our body needs to be brought into obedience to do God’s will by daily making choices to do what is right. Both our soul and our body are controlled by thoughts which turn to actions. So this week, we’re talking getting our thoughts to line up with God’s thoughts. Right thoughts lead to right words, and right words change your actions, which can change your life. Here’s your dailyeword!

Mental fitness, or getting our thoughts to line up with the Spirit of God, can seem like a challenge. Renewing our mind is a daily thing. Each day we choose what we put into our bodies for food, sometimes it is good and sometimes it is way bad! What happens over the long haul in our body is that what goes in does affect not only our appearance, but our health. Because we don’t see our thought life, it seems like it is easier to let things slide. We can be thinking thoughts that are very contrary to what God thinks about us, and can do it day upon day, week upon week, year upon year without realizing that damage is taking place. But damage is happening. So stop the damage today and make a change.

Thoughts can lead to imaginations and strongholds as it talks about in II Corinthians 10:4-6. Thoughts are much easier to deal with than strongholds. So nip wrong thoughts in the bud. Don’t let them hang around even for a minute. Take control of your thought life by capturing the wrong thought and replacing it with a God thought. Let me show you how it works. I’m make it really general so you can put whatever you might be struggling with in the blank to make it personal. When you start thinking this way:
I will never overcome my habit of ______________
Every time I’ve tried before and I have failed
It’s impossible, I don’t have enough will power
I will never break through this barrier to success
My life will always be this way, I’ll always be defeated
Turn those thoughts around immediately, and begin filling your mind with these “God” thoughts:
I am well able to overcome the habit of __________
This time, I have the strength of God on my side
Nothing is impossible with God, He gives me strength
Jesus broke down every wall, I will break through this wall.
My life will be forever changed, I’m more than a conqueror
As you begin to say what God says about you, strength and power will be released into your life, because of the power there is in lining your thoughts up with God’s thoughts. It will affect how you speak, and then how you live! That’s encouraging!

Everything living has Expression. Expression gives us a glimpse into the essence of what something is. Me, you, dogs, horses, cows, sheep, cats, pigs, etc…have expression. Humans and animals both have expression. Expression shows on he outside what the animal or person may be thinking or feeling. Are they angry, elated, depressed, happy, excited, defeated, joyful, or joyless?

You can tell a lot about your children, your friends, or your mate by their expression. When someone is training a horse, he/she can tell by the horse’s expression how the animal is responding. If its ears are back and they are swishing their tail and turning back to look at the one in the saddle, then we know that something is bothering the horse. You can see the horse’s Expression.
Faith is living when it has Expression. James said in 2:20, “faith without works or expression is dead”. Faith is spiritual, but must have natural expression to effect our lives in a practical way.

James goes on to say in 2:17-18 that “faith cannot be alone, but needs expression to give it life.”

James goes on to say that he has evidence of his faith by seeing it active. What kind of expression are you seeing from your faith? Is it at work in your life? Are you finding ways to serve others? Are you using it in your church, in your community, in your family? As you put your faith into action by serving God, you bring Him glory, and you get to see your faith expressed in your world. As you love and serve others, you are giving your faith expression and seeing your faith to work!

If you read the book of James, you will notice that James is trying to see some evidence that faith is working. In the book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, there was some evidence that something significant had happened. The promise of the Father was left for believers on the earth, and there was evidence. People were speaking in tongues. We see the connection when receiving anything from God. We live by faith, there should be some evidence that faith is working. Hence, the statement in James, that faith without works is dead. Works by itself is dead. We can’t work our way into heaven, or into God’s favor or grace or blessing. They are a total gift. Just like faith that we receive. Once we are in the faith, there should be some evidence that faith is working by the “fire of God” is on the inside. So if you liken your body to a house, if there is a fire in the fireplace, there should be smoke coming from the chimney. How would you rate your own life? Is there evidence in you that your faith is working? Is there some smoke in your fireplace? Let’s having living faith, alive and active, accomplishing great things for the kingdom of God. Let’s see people saved, and set free from anything that hold them bound. That’s what faith is designed for!

Introduction:
Faith is the building block of Christianity. The Bible tells us that all things are possible if we believe, and when we put our faith and trust in God we can see see circumstances change in our world. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword.
What do you have your faith out toward? We know that faith pleases God, because without it is impossible to please God Let’s be God pleaser and develop our faith. Here is your daily eword.

WHY is a question that is often asked when bad things happen to good people. Or when circumstances turn out differently than we expect. We live in a fallen world, and our earth has a curse on it, but still we often ask what’s us, why did this happen. As believers, we have to move away from the whys an the what’s up to the stance that “I WILL TRUST”. Something has to happen to make that paradigm shift – the one thing that is the most basic of building blocks of the Christian life…..the concept of FAITH. We are saved by faith, live by faith and walk by faith. Faith affects every part of our Christian life. We need to understand and have a grasp on the concept of faith, because FAITH IS WHAT PLEASES GOD!

Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

For the believer who truly wants to please God, we should take these words to heart. It we want to make God our number one priority, we make our faith walk a number one priority. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, so hearing God’s Word becomes priority number one. God is looking for faith in you. When you read all of Hebrews chapter 11, you see the hall of fame of faith. Men and women who were challenged on every side, who not only survived, but thrived because of active, dynamic faith! God is looking for faith in you. Let’s be Faith People, because that’s what pleases God.

There is nothing more wonderful in life than being a parent. The first time you see your newborn baby, it takes your breath away. And those sweet innocent baby grows up way too fast. There are joys and sorrows associated with raising children, and hopefully the joys have far outweighed the sorrows for you parents. I do know that there are a lot of hurting parents in my world who have children that have either turned their back on God, have walked away from the faith or family , or are struggling in many areas, some with drugs, some with alcohol, and some with their identity. Some have made terrible life choices and some are even serving time for crimes committed. As I finish this week of parenting topics, I want to encourage you parents never to give up on your children. We keep using our faith as parents. When we have mountains of issues to deal with, we continue to speak to those mountains. We activate our faith with our mouth, because faith is voice activated. We believe that children will come to their senses, and come home to God.

This is my prayer for you:
Father in the name of Jesus, I lift up parents who are (reading this) hearing my voice. I believe the promises in your Word that we a parents can raise a generation of kids that know You and love You. We pray that the children of the parents (reading this) listening will open their hearts to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speak individually to them. When theses parents feel like failures, I pray that you remind them that you love their children more than they ever could. We depend on You for strength, might and the ability to keep holding tightly onto the promises in Your Word. We call those things which be not as though they were, and believe that Your Word has been sent into their kids lives and it will not return void. We believe that evil strongholds and influences would loose their power over our children. I pray encouragement and blessing around these parents and we believe the lost will be found, the prodigal will come home, and freedom will come to their children who have been held captive by the enemy, in Jesus Name, AMEN.

After talking about natural things all week, we will delve into spiritual parenting ideas. One of the most powerful things that we can do for our children, involves prayer. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous person (mom or dad) makes great power available, effective in its working (James 5:16b).
My three easy points are:

1) Pray for your child,
2) pray with your child, and
3) teach your child to pray, (by doing points one and two).

We need to be praying the Word over our kids everyday! They don’t have to sow wild oats, or have a rebellious season. They can grow up loving God, loving you, loving their siblings and making right choices. The three main things I have prayed for my kids comes right out of John chapter 10.

1) That my kids will know the voice of God (vs 4).
2) That they won’t follow a stranger (vs 5).
3) That they will make decisions to follow God based on listening to His voice. (vs 27).

There are lots of voices out there. It is imperative that our kids know how to discern God’s voice from any other voice. Most of all, we want our kids to be good decision makers, and making the choice to follow God in everything is where it all starts.

So my encouraging word to you is….pray for your kids. If you don’t have natural kids, there is someone who needs you to pray for them, so do a spiritual adoption! Parents, make it your goal to be your kid’s life long prayer partners. Let them hear you pray for them, and teach them how to pray, by both show and tell, so that they can be people of prayer, who know how to touch heaven, to change things on earth. It is possible!