Encouragement From The Lord, Answers to Prayers/Miracles

This is a promise the Lord made to us:

John 14:12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

^^These are some weighty promises.  This writer is here to tell you that the Lord meant every Word He said above.  The Lord has proven Himself and His Word above to this writer.  It has been battle tested, it is true that is my testimony.

There are two unstoppable forces in this world that should be made a moment to moment part of our lives:  1.  our faith and 2. His Word.  Our faith and His Word are infinite in scope and power to do what needs to be done.  Higher than the heavens and farther than the east is from the west is the power these two things hold for us who believe.

We all face problems and troubles that never seem to end.  One goes away and another shows up to take its place but we have not been left without resources to deal with our troubles.  We have His power, His presence, our faith and His Word to shatter every mountain that stands in our way.  Be encouraged, rise up, take hold of your faith and keep His Word in your heart, mind, spirit and mouth.  Never be caught without these things.  In the end, with enough patience and perseverance you will stand in victory, 100% guaranteed.

Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.


grace and peace

Will You Trust Me Now?

Have you ever seen that tv commercial, I think its verizon where the guy goes all over the place then asks at each point "can you hear me now?"  The Lord does something similar with us but its called "will you trust Me now?"  It works like this:  we have problems and we cry out to the Lord for help.  He delivers us again and again.  After each time we tell the Lord "this time Lord I will never doubt you again!"  Then lo and behold, another problem, another issue, another insurmountable obstacle for us to face and what happens?  "Lord, can you hear me?"  "Lord, when are you going to answer?"  "Will the Lord deliver me this time?"  Right?

Life is a problem.  It is full of them and they never stop coming.  If its not one thing, its another.  Question is, at what point do we say "You know what?  Thats it, I have had it with playing games.  I'm going to trust the Lord or go down in flames.  There is no middle ground anymore."  How can we get to that point?  Does it take superhuman faith?  Do you have to be a 'supersaint.'  No and no.  It starts with the realization that we have no where else to turn to for help.  Think about it really hard.  Many times we need more than just an answer, we need a miracle.  That makes things quite easy doesn't it?  How many people do you know who can work miracles?  None, zero.  People cant get it done.  The Lord can work through people but people themselves are just vessels.

I don't enjoy being tested just like you don't.   But when I think about all the things that could go wrong, and the problems that never stop coming in one form or another, I fall back over and over again to the same thing.  Its just all too much for me.  There are too many problems, too many bad possibilities, too many enemies, too many people that hate/dislike/could care less about me, for me to try to do something about all of it.  So what then, give up?  Hardly, we were told by our God that He will never leave us and never forsake us:

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."


We have a God who made us limited, dependent beings.  Why?  So we can fail?  No, so we can lean on and count on Him.  He is our answer, He is our solution, He is our warrior against the foe, He is our deliverer.  The problems and enemies and obstacles will just keep coming while we are on this earth:

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."


We know the problems keep coming, so we should make up our mind to trust Him no matter what.  Not because its easy to do, but because we have no other help like Him!

If I told you I needed a million dollars and only one person in the world was willing to give me a million dollars would you think I would agonize over the problem of getting a million dollars?  No, I would not agonize because only one person in this world could help me!  The same is true for us in our daily, weekly, yearly lifelong problems.  I can tell you that I do not have people stepping up daily to help me solve my problems.  There is only one Being there to help with it all and it is our Lord God.  There is no other help.  When there is no where else to go and no one else to turn to it makes things easy.  Either our God comes through for us or we go down in flames.  I can tell you that our God has come through for me and I am getting older by the day.  Year after year He does it again and again.  No I am not special, what is special are His promises to us.  His tender mercies and loving-kindness toward us who believe.  That is what is special.

Will you trust me now?  The next time the Lord whispers that in your ear while you are facing yet another problem answer "yes Lord, who else can I turn to?  There is only you...."

The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father be with you.

Encouragement From Revelation 3:10

The closer we get to the hour of the escape, the more the enemy is going to throw his people and his lies at us to attempt to kill, steal, and destroy our hope.  What is our hope?  Our hope is in His promises, period.  Our God promised us things, we trust His promises.  Its that simple.  Nothing gets the enemy and his servants more stirred up than the promise of escape our Lord has given His Church.

The Lord made it as straightforward and simple as He could for us.  How so?  What has He told us?

Rev 3:8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

First this:

behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:

This one is 3rd grade logic.  What did the Lord tell us? 1.  He is putting an open door right in front of our face.  That's what "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:" means. Now, do we really need a doctorate of theology degree to figure out what it means when the Lord opens a door right in front of us?  Gee, I wonder what the Lord wants us to do with that door He just opened in front of us?  Do you think we might want to debate among ourselves for a few years to figure out what the Lord is suggesting we do next?  No, we dont need to debate because its in our face obvious.

And yet there are those who would argue "just because the Lord opened a door right in front of your face doesn't mean you have to go through it!"  Right, that is stupid....and stupid arguments like that are what the enemy falls back on time and again.

So, first the Lord tells us He is opening a door for us, then what does He tell us?

Rev 3:10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Because it was not obvious enough for some that people actually walk through doors, the Lord spells it out for us.  Why did He open a door for us?  What is the purpose of that door? To keep us from the hour of temptation.  Now lets be very clear, the Lord God said He will keep us from the hour of temptation.  It just so happens that this hour of temptation is going to come upon the entire world to test the inhabitants of the earth.  What could this hour of temptation be considering that a.  its coming upon the inhabitants of the entire earth and b. its purpose is to test them?

Again, one has to be willfully ignorant to attempt any argument that does not point directly to the time of Jacob's trouble.

Now consider what the Lord taught us here:

Ecc 4:12 Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.


Revelation 3 is strand one:  we will be kept from the hour of temptation.

Luke 11 is strand two (the Lords prayer) :  4Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.^d ’ 

2 Peter 2:9 is strand three:   The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:


And here my friends ^^ is your cord of three strands directly from the Word of our Lord.  Also notice it did not take a thousand page e-book to prove the point.  The Lord is not wordy.  Liars and frauds are wordy:

Prov 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.


Be encouraged.  The Lord told you to pray not to be led into temptation (trials) for a reason.  The Lord told us He knows how to rescue the godly from temptation (trials), and He told us He is going to do what He knows how to do (rescue us from tempation/trials) in the days ahead.  He did it for Noah, He did it for Lot and He is going to do it again for His Church.  That is not my opinion, that is promise based FACT from the Word of the Lord in Revelation 3.

What we have to do between now and then is hold on.  We have to use the days left to us for good, to do whatever good our hands find to do and to walk with the Lord our God. 

grace and peace

Sin, Guilt, Fear

It is typical for the enemy to try to demoralize the saints with remembrance of our sin, guilt and fear.  But what does our Lord say?

Romans 8:1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Our God is not sitting in heaven with a clipboard and pen saying "oh, there she goes again!  One sin there, and a failure here, and an omission again there."  If we are "in Christ" it is all forgiven.  When we fall (all of us do) and when we fail (all of us do) He expects us to get over it, get up, and press on.  If we sin, we immediately repent and move on.

We are not to live in the past. 

Isaiah 43:18“Forget the former things;

do not dwell on the past.

19See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.

The only thing we are to constantly pull forward out of the past is remembrance of the many miracles and answered prayers our Lord has delivered to us.

Psalm 77:10Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand.  11I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.” 13Your ways, God, are holy.
What god is as great as our God? 14You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.

Once we pick ourselves up off the ground, then we are to press on.  Press on doing what?  Walking with our God.  Getting to know Him, love Him, serve Him.  Listening to His voice, when He tells us to act we do so immediately.  We are to be kings and priests.  The priest serves who primarily?  The Lord.  Service to man comes second.  Our God is always first, in all things at all times.  If we put Him in His proper place in our lives (at the center) then everything else will take care of itself.  Put first things first.

John 10:14"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- .

2 Thessalonians 1:8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

We must know our God, that is primary.  We know Him by remaining in Him, by staying in His Word, by walking and talking with Him throughout our day, by praying to Him continually, by praising Him continually, and through giving thanks and rejoicing in Him.

Yes, we all stumble:

James 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.


But then we recover and press on.

Forget your mistakes, your sin, your stumbling, your failures.  Why?  In Christ there is no condemnation, you are forgiven.  We know without a doubt that we are in right standing (thats what righteousness is: right standing with our God), and because we are right standing with our God we can walk and talk with Him, get to know Him.  That is our primary duty: to love and serve our God.  You do not have to be a missionary to far flung parts of the earth, you do not have to stand in front of crowds of people and preach, you do not have to do any of the many things this world tells us we have to do.  We can do what we need to do, every moment of every day right where we are:  know our God.

We are loved, and we are forgiven.  Proceed in your walk with our God knowing these things.  His eyes are on His church and His church is not some building somewhere owned by some self styled religious CEO.  His church is the living, breathing body of Christ Jesus, that is me and you...

Forget the past.  Strain toward what is ahead:

Philippians 3:1Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, .

grace and peace

When You Feel Like You Can't Pray

There are times when the pressures and problems of life overwhelm to the point where we feel like we can't even pray for the help that we need.  You don't want people quoting scriptures at you, you don't want anyone's advice, you just feel like crawling up in a corner somewhere in the fetal position.  What do we do then?

Whisper from the heart.  Surely, we can get a "Lord help me" or a "Lord, I need you" to utter from the depths of our spirit.  Those little prayers can move mountains.  If thats all you have the strength for, do that.

What is going on in the world right now?  The only thing that really matters is the Lord has His eyes on His Church.  He has His eyes on us, we must keep our eyes on Him.  He does not expect us to do things with what we do not have, He expects us to do things with what we do have.  If all we have is .00000001 ounce of strength left to call out from the heart a silent prayer for help, then do that.  He sees, He hears, He will answer.

Grace and peace

Everything Will Be Alright

Why do we have to get into our Lord's presence?  Because only then do we really deeply know that everything will be alright. 

Ps 73:12 This is what the wicked are like—

always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure

and have washed my hands in innocence.

14All day long I have been afflicted,

and every morning brings new punishments.

15If I had spoken out like that,

I would have betrayed your children.

16When I tried to understand all this,

it troubled me deeply

17till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

18Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

19How suddenly are they destroyed,

completely swept away by terrors!

20They are like a dream when one awakes;

when you arise, Lord,

you will despise them as fantasies.

It looks like anyway you slice it, Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president of the United States.
This woman is evil personified.  So what?  What about everything will be alright.  Everything will be alright:

16When I tried to understand all this,

it troubled me deeply

17till I entered the sanctuary of God;

then I understood their final destiny.

18Surely you place them on slippery ground;

you cast them down to ruin.

Its not just that we get into our Lord's presence to deeply understand the destiny of the murderers who run our world (politicians)-they will be dealt with.  We get much more than that:

23Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

24You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

25Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

27Those who are far from you will perish;

you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.

28But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;

I will tell of all your deeds.

Our treasure here on earth and in heaven is the Lord our God.  When His presence and power are present, only then do we really understand how right things are right now and will be in the future.  The things that are happening now and the things that will happen were foretold from the beginning.  Our God knows it all, sees it all, is surprised by none of it.  There is no secret scheming anywhere that He does not have a front seat to.  Those planning evil (its getting worse every day) will have their accounts settled in the near future.  We who belong to the Lord our God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords will also be rewarded with our deliverance and inheritance that will make princes and kings of this earth look like paupers.

No one who hopes in our God will be disappointed

Isa 49:23Kings will be your foster fathers,

and their queens your nursing mothers.

They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground;

they will lick the dust at your feet.

Then you will know that I am the Lord;

those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

The Lord has encouraged me today and I pass this encouragement on to you.  His grace and power that works on behalf of those who love Him are incomparable.  Put your hope in the Lord your God.  Get into His presence and you will understand, everything will be just fine.

Keep the faith. 

May the grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you in truth and love.

Overflowing With Thankfulness

Col 2:6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

There are two very powerful spiritual, foundational truths here ^^.

1.  It all starts with our faith in Christ/acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith:

a.  you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
b.  continue to live your lives in him,
c. 7rooted and built up in him,
d.  strengthened in the faith as you were taught

You do not get to number 2 without number 1 a-d above ^^

What is foundational, powerful spiritual truth number 2?

2.  Overflowing with thankfulness

Why is number 2 such a big deal?  Because it automatically includes number 1 and this combination of number 1 and number 2 above leads to number 3 below:

Psalm 22:3  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.


What happens when we give thanks, when we praise our Lord?  His presence and power show up.  He inhabits the praises of His people.  Wherever He is, His power accompanies Him. What is it the people in the Churches, cities and nations need right now?  The presence and power of our Lord Jesus Christ in their midst.  The problems we are facing as a collective people were caused by kicking Him out so the solution is to bring Him back in to His rightful place at the very center of our being, our lives, our world.  That's it, problem solved.

Yes, this world has a problem.  The problem is when our Lord is kicked out, this move in:

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.


Right now, principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world are running the show.  These things respect one thing only: raw spiritual power.  Thats it.  To turn things around a spiritual boot needs to be placed on their neck to squeeze the life out of them.  One does not put a spiritual boot on the neck of evil principalities through presidential elections or any other form of earthly, worldly endeavor.  It is accomplished in Christ and through Christ alone.  It starts with Colossians 2:6 above.

grace and peace

No Reason To Fear

Yesterday as I was asking the Lord once again, "So what's going to happen Lord" (I just cant help myself), He answered once again.  If you read the article on Christian Apostasy "Welcome to 2016" it was explained what the Lord told me about this year:  "this year you are going to trust me."  He elaborated with:

 Heb 10:38 And, "But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back."

The reason behind constantly pestering our Lord with "whats going to happen" questions is watching what is happening to this world and anticipating what happens next.  Thanks be to our God, yesterday He answered with something along the lines of 'His people have no reason to fear what this world fears.'  This world has every reason to fear in anticipation of what is coming.  We do not.

Matt 6:25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

What is He saying?  Stop worrying, stop anticipating what will happen tomorrow.  He keeps His eyes on us, we are to keep our eyes on Him.  Its that simple.   

Isaiah 26:3You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you

We are going to trust Him, period.  Regardless of how we feel, regardless of what the news says, regardless of current events we are going to trust Him.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these
is love.

All three of these: faith, hope and love are woven together in this trust we have in our Lord.  Yes, He sees and understands everything that is going on in your life and in this world.  No, He is not surprised by any of it.  He sees and understands the end from the beginning.  As out of control as things seem, they are under perfect control.  What exactly is going on in the world around us that the Lord did not tell us would happen?  All of it, yes, all of it was foretold thousands of years ago.  He who told us what would happen also watches over us night and day.  He does not sleep, He does not take lunch breaks, nor does He go on vacation.  He is 'on the job' watching over us every second of every day.  We are to keep our eyes on Him.  We are to listen for His voice and do exactly precisely every thing He tells us to do without arguing or complaining.  Thats how this works.

Stop worrying.  Trust Him.  Stay filled with faith, hope and love and watch what happens.  We will not be disappointed.

Glory to the Lord our God, Who is, Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.

Be Still

Psalm 46:10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord has instructed this brother over the past year or so about the importance of certain aspects of our walk.  I will list them here as it is a combination of things that has been required for this brother:

1.  Psalm 46:10 Be still
2.  Matt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
3. 2 Cor 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

4.  Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.


Another way of saying number 4 above is there must be nothing in our heart, mind or spirit that causes offense to the Spirit of the Lord.  Our thoughts tend to wander here and there and everywhere but we really need to put a fence up around our mind.  Our thoughts must be constrained by 1. stillness, saying nothing 2.  rebuking errant thoughts that come into our minds, taking captive every thought.  This is a big deal.  The Lord only knows how much trouble we cause ourselves for passively accepting all kinds of thoughts that come into our heads from the enemy, this world, the flesh etc.  Our thought life must become active.

We must recognize that the Lord is right there reading every single word that flashes across our mind like a giant teleprompter.  He is aware of every time we nod our head yes or shake our head no to these thoughts that cross our mind.  He is aware of every time something disagreeable to the Spirit enters our mind and we are okay with it.  If its not okay with Him it should not be okay with us.  Take it captive by saying in your mind "I take that thought captive in obedience to my Lord Jesus Christ and I cast it out, I reject it" or something of that nature.

Is it "work" to make you thought life active instead of passive?  You bet it is, yes it takes effort.  What did the Lord say?

Phil 2:12
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.


Yes, the Lord said work our your own salvation in spite of what the churches of Babylon have told you.  We play a part in our salvation.  Yes, there is work required of us.

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:


Todays churches love the by grace part and they unanimously leave out the through faith part.  Now lets extend this a little further, what else has the Lord said?  James 2:17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

We are saved by grace though faith and faith without works is dead.  I did not say that, the Lord God did.  Where have the churches of Babylon gone so wrong?

The "works of the law" here:

Romans 3:28  For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.


 does not equate to the "works of faith" here:

James 2:17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

This mental effort is a work of faith that produces fruit acceptable to our Lord.  We need to learn to say less in our own minds, to practice this being still before the Lord.  What we do say in our minds or what is said into our minds must be self censored.  There must be nothing within us that causes offense to the Spirit of the Lord.

These things ^^ have been a work in progress within this nobody who writes to you today.  These words are shared with you for your consideration as you walk with the Lord.

May the face of the Lord shine upon you, may He grant you peace.

brother d