CHANGE NOW!

Deuteronomy  2:  1-3

Ezekiel 37

The word of the Lord said: you’ve been in this place long enough.
In other words you’ve been in this life-cycle this life situation long enough.

It may be your financial situation, or your relationships, it may be in your emotional life.  It may be a physical situation.  It may be your spiritual life.

God said: it’s time for a change.

God said you’ve skirted this mountain long enough.

We serve the God of turnarounds, your Bible is a book of turnarounds, from Genesis to Revelation we see God turning things around.

One of the worst-case scenarios in the Bible is in the book of Ezekiel chapter 37 and the Valley of dry bones.

It looked hopeless, impossible, beyond the point of no return.

But when the man of God started speaking to those bones something started changing.  The situation started turning around.  Bones started coming together, and they didn’t just come together but every bone found its matching bone.  When the prophet finished prophesying, in the very same place where there was nothing but dry bones there stood a mighty army fully equipped and fully empowered to fight.

I sense a turnaround right now.  Somebody’s getting your breakthrough right now, somebody’s getting set free right now, set free in your mind, somebody’s getting set free in your emotions, somebody’s financial situation is turning around.

Somebody’s marriage is turning around, it was headed for the rocks but now it s headed for the rock.  Somebody’s getting a healing in your body, sickness is leaving you now.

Your season is changing!  It’s a new season: it’s a season of new beginnings. 

Somebody’s going to go where they’ve never gone before in Jesus name!

Don't Play with Frogs

DON’T PLAY NO FROGS!
Exodus 8:1-14

Biblically speaking, the frogs equal anything in your life that is contrary to God’s word and God’s will for your life.

Many of you reading this have frogs in your life.  Things that you know are out of order, things that shouldn’t be there.

There are all kinds of frogs.  There are big frogs, little frogs, fat frogs, skinny frogs, there are frogs of habits and addictions, there are frogs of uncleanness, frogs of lust, and greed, and pride.  There are frogs of sickness, and disease, poverty and lack.

There are frogs that people can see, and smell and hear.  Then there are frogs that people can’t see.

Other people may not be able to see them but you know they’re there. 
One thing is for sure Pharaoh and all his servants knew they had a frog problem.

The first step to getting rid of the frogs in your life is to admit you’ve got them.

The bad thing about frogs is they grow, little frogs become big frogs,
Little stinkers become big stinkers.  And they multiply (Anytime you give place and make room for one frog in your life, you have just given an invitation to a whole frog population).  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.  Pharaoh, at least recognized his frog problem.

Then they reached the place where they hated the frogs.

God will not deliver you from something that you love, or something you are willing to tolerate.  Pornography, drugs, nicotine, lust, a bad temper, self pity, depression, jealousy, unforgiveness. 

How then can you be delivered from something that you know is wrong, you know God is not pleased with, and you shouldn’t have in your life but you like it?  You enjoy it, your flesh enjoys it, (I know it’s wrong and I know I shouldn’t have it in my life, but I love it).

How can I be delivered from the frogs in my life, when If I’m honest about it, I really like them?

The answer is: You have to agree with God.  You have to choose, to operate out of your heart, your spirit, and not your flesh.  Your flesh may lust after it and desire it but in my heart I choose to hate it, because God hates it.

When I choose to hate it in my spirit, then the power of God begins to move through my spirit, and empowers me to put to death the appetites and the works of the flesh.

Anger management, marriage counseling, the patch, nicorette, rehab.
All of these are well and good in their place.  But they cannot deliver you.  The doctor, the financial consultant, the lawyers, they all play their part, but first and foremost, above all you need God.

Pharaoh calls for Moses and asks him to pray for their deliverance.
(Glory to God, Moses says: Well Hallelujah, you’ve finally come to your senses) When do you want me to pray?

And Pharaoh speaks that one demon inspired word that has doomed multitudes to an eternal hell for generations, "Tomorrow".

Give me one more night to live with, sleep with, play with the frogs!

I want to get rid of this, but not today
I want to pet my sin, I want to indulge my flesh, and satisfy my lust just one more time.
I want to get my life right with God - Tomorrow
I want to get off these drugs (tomorrow)
I want to get out of this adulterous affair (tomorrow)
I want to get rid of this lust and perversion (tomorrow)
I want to be free of this anger and resentment and hatred and unforgiveness (tomorrow)

Ps 27:1 Boast not thyself of tomorrow: For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
You don’t have the promise of tomorrow, you have now, you have this heart beat, this breath, 2 Co 6:2 Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.

When Moses Prayed, God killed the frogs!

That means what you have wrestled with and struggled with for years, God can take care of it in one moment of time.  No matter how bad it is, God will break its power over your life.

There may still be the temptation, but its controlling power over your life will be broken.

It’s time to put your foot down and declare I’m not going to play with the frogs anymore, not one more night with the frogs.

I don’t have to put up with the devil’s mess for one more day.

Breakthrough can be yours!

As we enter into the promises God has for us we must be prepared for confrontation.  There is no progress (natural or spiritual) without resistance.  Some are satisfied with the status quo! Devil!  Don’t bother me and I won’t bother you!  Some churches are satisfied right where they are at, we haven’t gained any and we haven’t lost any! 

God is never satisfied with the status quo!  God is never satisfied with containment.  God is never satisfied with simply suppressing the enemy.  To suppress the enemy is not VICTORY!  Victory is when the cross of Calvary and the blood of the lamb have destroyed the thing at the root.

Every one of us will come to a point in our lives where we face something that presents itself to us as a united, unbroken wall of opposition.  The good news is our God is the God of the breakthrough!  I believe to insure a needed breakthrough every believer needs to be reminded to do the following:

1.        Rededicate yourself to God’s call, vision, purpose and plan for your life on a frequent basis.  Life has a way of wearing us down, distracting us and moving our attention onto other things.  Refocus, rededicate and redirect often.

2.       Look up!  Get your eyes off the obstacle.  Look past the difficulty.  Don’t let your focus be constantly on the challenge before you.  Meditate on good things, blessings, relationships and of course the Lord and His goodness.

3.       Align yourself with God!  Sadly, many Christians are more in line with American Idol than they are with God!  Jesus said, “where ever your treasure is, there you heart will be also”!  So ask yourself, where is your heart?  Make any needed corrections in alignment!

4.       Worship!  Worship creates the atmosphere for hearing Gods voice.  Worship opens the eyes and the ears of the heart to hear God’s voice.  Worship is the atmosphere for the birth of the miraculous.  Frankly, it is very difficult for many Christians to hear God’s voice because of the many distractions in life.  Television, radio, internet, facebook, cell phones (I could go on endlessly)!  Something is going to have to be turned off if you want to hear God’s voice!

5.       Obedience is key!  God gives directions, not suggestions!  God gives commandments, not ideas!  Victory and breakthrough is totally reliant on obedience to God and walking out His word.

6.       Watch your mouth.  You don’t have to always say that which is on your mind.  Just because something is on your mind, doesn’t mean you should speak it, nor does it mean any of the rest of us want to hear it!  Col. 4:6 – Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

7.       Shout!  There comes a time, when you know you have rededicated yourself to God’s plan, you have lifted your eyes to the Lord, you have purposed to walk out God’s word, you are person of worship and obedience and you have learned to control your tongue, it is then there is nothing left to do but SHOUT!  Not because everything looks right or sounds great, but because God has said the breakthrough victory is yours.  “this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith”.  Praise is faith expressing itself audibly. 

Go ahead and do it!  I believing with you for a breakthrough victory today! 

The Bad News is Wrong!

1 Samuel 30: 1-9

David and his men had returned to ziklag to find their city burned with fire.

David knew the enemies protocol, it was to rape and pillage, and destroy everything.

All the men including David began to weep:

All their live stock, their wives and children were gone, (They even began to speak of stoning David)

David could have sunk into deep depression, he could have contemplated suicide, he could have started blaming God. He could have lost his mind.
But in the darkest hour of David’s life way down deep inside something began to stir in David, and the bible doesn’t say it, but I just believe he remembered the day a lion invaded his sheepfold, and I just believe he remembered, that things aren’t always as they appear. And I just believe he remembered that the enemy is a master at presenting false evidence.
And David enquired of the Lord.  Shall I pursue?  God said: Thou shalt pursue, and thou shalt overtake and thou shalt surely recover all.

I want to remind you today: The good news is (the bad news is wrong),
It ain’t over till you quit, and It ain’t like what you see, It ain’t gone it’s just out of sight.

The lamb isn’t dead it’s just out of sight
Today God want you to get a faith lift, somebody today is getting ready to shift into the faith dimension and somebody is getting ready to take back what the devil stole from you.

That lion wanted to destroy that lamb, but God wouldn’t let him close his mouth. 

Somebody needs to know today that it’s not gone it’s just in storage.

God has been letting the devil hold it for you, till your faith was strong enough to fight back, and repossesses what belongs to you.

Here’s some good news for you today (The good news is, the bad news was wrong).