Today, as I think about Good Friday, I am reminded of the goodness of our God.  Today is one of those days we should take a moment and thank Him for His goodness.

There is a song that Kelita once sent me that I love, here are some of the words…

The goodness of the Lord never fails me

The goodness of the Lord it overwhelms me

The goodness of the Lord is always true

The goodness of the Lord never fails me

The goodness of the Lord it overwhelms me

The goodness of the Lord will see me through

The song is by Travis Ryan and I just loved it.

When I listen to this song, I am always reminded of a scripture God spoke to my heart many years ago.

I was driving to Pennsylvania to help a friend; it was years before cell phones were common.  As I drove along the interstate God spoke to me and said, “Psalm 27:13.”  I replied, “okay.”

He went on to explain, “that is your life scripture.”

I was excited to be able to look up the scripture once I arrived at my hotel. However, it would be a couple more hours before I arrived and could see what God was telling me was my LIFE scripture.

As I read Psalm 27:13, I remember at the time thinking… “wow, I will see the goodness of God in my life.”

I didn’t realize at the time; He was probably warning me of the times I would go through when I would want to lose heart.  Either way, His goodness would be a big part of my life, for that I was and am, thankful.

As I listened to the words of the song, The Goodness of the Lord, I began to mediate on His goodness, which led me to the word of God, of course.

Goodness is defined in the Strong’s Concordance as; good things, property, prosperity and the goodness of God. 

In the Webster’s 1828 dictionary, goodness is defined as; kindness, benevolence, acts of kindness and favor shown.

I love that part of the definition is acts of kindness.  I often talk about doing acts of kindness.

Today I realized that as we do acts of kindness we are also sowing toward acts of kindness from God.  We are sowing goodness, isn’t that awesome?!  As we sow goodness, we will reap goodness.

As I continued to study God’s goodness, I came across several scriptures concerning His goodness.  Let me share them with you today;

Psalm 27:13; I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.

Psalm 107:14-21; He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two. Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!

Exodus 34:6; And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.

2 Chronicles 6:41; Now therefore, Arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness.

Jeremiah 31:12; Therefore, they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, streaming to the goodness of the Lord– for wheat and new wine and oil, for the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all.

Jeremiah 31:14; I will saturate the soul of the priests with abundance, and My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lord.

Psalm 23:6; Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Psalm 33:5; He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

Today, as we observe Good Friday, let’s remember His goodness.  He was so good to us that He gave His only Son to die for us, to take our sins, our sickness, our confusion and give us instead, restoration, wholeness and peace…He is a good God.  Let’s celebrate Him today!

Meditate on this:

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart!  Psalm 73:1

I was outside, once again, planting seeds.

You see, this year I have felt led of the Lord to again plant a garden, not from plants that have already been started, but from seed.

I have planted several things from seed.  Some are doing quite well.  A few didn’t make it past seed form.  As I was planting the seed today, I began to have a conversation with the Lord.  It went like this.

“Lord, I don’t understand.  I have had gardens in the past.  I planted things that were already started and growing.  I don’t understand why I need to plant everything from seed.  It takes so much longer this way.”

Within my spirit, I got my answer.  The Lord spoke to my heart and said, “I am teaching you patience in sowing seed.”

I began to reflect on this truth.  Patience in sowing seed.

It is so much simpler to go to your local Lowe’s and grab some cucumbers, squash, watermelon, and beans that someone else has already started.  You can look at it and choose which plant looks best.  Which one seems to be growing correctly.  You can see what you are going to have in your garden.  Not so with seeds.

I plant my seeds and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Eventually, most of them come up to the point I can plant them in my garden.  However, they don’t all always come up to that point.  Therefore, I know what will grow and keep growing and what to sow again.

Planting from seed form takes great patience and much care.  When the seeds are first sown, I must make sure they have plenty of water.  I must make sure they have all the correct nutrients.  I must make sure they are viable.  So, I wait, and I watch.

It’s much like this as we sow or plant the word of God into our heart.  It is often easier to hear a message from someone else.  It is much easier to take what they have learned and apply it to our lives.  It is much more difficult to plant our own seeds into our life and wait for them to grow.  This takes time, study, and digging into the word for ourselves.  It also takes patience.

I love hearing revelation from anointed men and women of God.  I believe that is vital in our spiritual lives.

However, there is nothing I love more than when I begin to sow a certain seed of the word of God into my own heart and watch it grow.  I love when the day comes that I see the fruit of that seed come forth in my own life.

It’s much the same in the spiritual realm as it is in the natural.  We must plant the seed.  We must water it daily with the word of God.  We must make sure to keep all weeds away from our precious seed.  Those weeds may be doubt, unbelief, fear or even unforgiveness.  Keep all weeds out!  Then watch your seed grow.

Once it begins to grow it will produce a perpetual harvest in your life.  I think that is awesome, don’t you!

But growing from seed, takes patience.

Sowing financial seeds takes patience as well.  We sow our seed.  Then we must water it daily with the word of God.  We hold that seed up before the Lord and declare, “God I have sown my seed in faith, I thank You that it is producing a great harvest.  I thank You that Your word is truth – whatsoever I sow, that shall I reap.  I thank You that you multiply the seed I have sown and cause Your angels to bring in my harvest now in Jesus name.  You are the Lord of my harvest; I thank You that You are watching over Your word to perform it today and causing all my harvest to come in now.  I believe I receive my harvest and I thank You for it now.”

You see, I have sown seeds this year of melons, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, squash and much more…and I am watching it grow.

I have also sown seeds of money in several different areas.  I am watching it grow also.  I know God is faithful and my seed…all my seed…will produce a harvest as I learn patience in the seed.

I have a promise.

Zechariah 8:12 says; For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase and the heavens shall give their dew – I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these.

Therefore, I let patience have its perfect work in me so that in the end, I will lack nothing. (James 1:4)

Friends, I don’t know what seed you have sown.  This I do know.  God made you a promise.  Your seed will be prosperous.  Do not grow weary in well doing – allow patience to do its perfect work in your seed.  In the end, you will lack absolutely nothing.

Meditate on this:

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  Galatians 6:9

As with most folks, there are many things I am praying about this month, even this week.

There are times in our life when it seems we are bombarded with prayer requests.  There are times when it seems one thing happens after the other and we are trying to keep up.

I don’t know about you but during times like that, I do all I know to do.  I pray, I fast, I listen intently for Gods voice.

Today I began asking God if I needed to do anything else.  I wasn’t ‘feeling’ very powerful in my prayers concerning some of the things going on.

I was thinking along these lines, when something came through my email box.  I don’t recall who the author was.  I don’t even know who sent it to me.  However, it immediately captured my attention.

As I looked over this email, I read, “do not try to manufacture anything or make anything happen, in rest you will find explosive breakthrough, fruit and favor.”

This word instantly brought peace.   Suddenly everything I had been praying didn’t seem so intense.  As I meditated on this word, I was reminded of a scripture.  It is found in Isaiah 30:15;

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.

The word rest in this scripture means; quietness, rest, a quiet attitude and to come down into, to penetrate and to stretch.

Jesus said in John 14:27; Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When we allow His peace to come down into us, to penetrate our hearts and minds, it stretches us.  At times it takes effort to choose to enter into His rest in the midst of turmoil.  It is in that rest that we will be saved, healed, and prospered.  Whatever we need is found in Him and His rest.  It is in quietness and confidence in HIM that we will be strengthened.

Friends, it is good to war with our words.  It is good to declare the word of the living God.  It is good to spend time in prayer and worship.  It is good to fast and pray.  All these things are good.  All these things have their time and place in our spiritual life.  However, when God says rest then it is time to rest.

Perhaps God is telling you to enter into His rest today.  If so, rest. If you don’t, perhaps, just perhaps, you are missing a chance to be strengthened.

I am a person who is a doer.  I am good at doing. I am not great at resting.

A few years ago, the Lord spoke something to me that has stuck with me.  He said, “In quietness you will find My glory.”

I have since learned the power and strength in spending quiet times with God.  I have learned the power in the word that proclaims…be still and know that I am God.

Eccl. 3 says; To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to gain, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Yes, there is a time for war.  Yes, there is a time for prayer and interceding.  And there is a time for peace and rest.  Make sure you are discerning the times correctly.  Make sure you are resting, when rest is demanded.  In His rest, you will find strength.  Strength and explosive breakthrough.

Meditate on this:

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”    Exodus 33:14

I was standing in my kitchen, preparing dinner.

Breanne was sitting in the living room.  She was engrossed in reading.  She had begun reading In the Footsteps of a Prophet, by Jerry Savelle.  I had shared with her that it was one of my favorite books.

Bryson and Brailee were sitting at the counter playing a game together.

I was on the other side of the counter, chopping carrots.  Every few minutes Bryson and Brailee would become loud as they were playing their game.  Hearing the increase of noise, I would look over at Breanne to see if it was disturbing her reading.  She didn’t even look up.

This happened several times.

After a few times of this, I laughed out loud.  I thought, “a Mom has a unique ability to completely block out the noise of a child.”

As I had that thought, a voice within me said, “wouldn’t that be an awesome ability to use on the enemy.”

1 Peter 5:8-9 says; Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

The devil prowls around looking for someone to devour.  And it all begins with words.  He will begin to speak to us.  To taunt us.  To make some noise.  To try to get us to worry or become anxious.  He wants us to get our eyes off God.

However, we do not have to take the bait.  We can do just like Breanne did.  We can totally block him out.

I know a few people who spend a great deal of their prayer time fighting the devil.  Personally, I try to give him as little attention as possible.  After all he is a defeated foe.  I choose, instead, to keep my eyes on God and His word.

It is not necessary to spend a great deal of time fighting the devil.  James 4:7 says; Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We simply need to submit ourselves to God and His word and resist the devil.

Do not sit around and listen to the devil talk to you.  He is a liar.  He does not know the truth.  John 8:44 says; He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Whatever he is saying to you is a lie.  He has come for one purpose, to steal, kill and destroy.  (John 10:10)

His goal is to steal from you and your family.  To destroy your faith.  BUT.  You do not have to listen to him.  Block him out entirely.

I heard a statement last week that I just loved.  The man of God said, “when Jesus said all authority has been given unto Me, that meant someone else had no authority.”  That someone else is the devil.  If you belong to God, he has no authority over you.  He cannot rule your life.  He cannot rule your thoughts…unless you invite him in or allow him to stay.  The bible says resist him and he must flee.  Resist him.

It is your responsibility to resist.  Jesus made a strong statement in John 10.  He said His sheep know His voice.  He went on to say, His sheep will not listen to, nor follow the voice of a stranger.  Only listen to Jesus’ voice.  Refuse to listen to or follow the voice of a stranger.  Give the devil no place.

I heard a man make a statement once that has impacted my life.  He said, “responsibility is two words.  Response and ability.  If you have the ability to change a situation, what will your response be?”

I think this is profound.  I also believe it applies here.  You have the ability to resist the devil.  You have the ability to refuse to listen to him.  You have the ability to send him fleeing…what then, will your response be?

Meditate on this:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  John 10:10

In my walk with God He has told me to do some odd things, but as I obeyed, He has always blessed me.  The blessing comes AFTER the obedience.  Obedience precedes blessing.  Many things He told people to do in the Bible were pretty odd – God led them to do odd things but every time He did what He said He would do.  What God tells us to do doesn’t always make sense, that’s for certain, and usually you can’t reason it out – but if you would just obey – His blessing will follow.  So…what has He told you to do?  Has He told you to do something you don’t think you can do?  Does it make no sense to you?  Then it is probably God – and as you obey, His blessing will follow…it always follows obedience.

Could it be a shift has taken place in the Spirit and it is time to lengthen your stride? Could it be?

This morning when I awoke, something was different, I knew there had been a shift in the Spirit and then the Lord reminded me of something that once took place with my Mom.

Let me explain; last spring, I began going to a walking track with my Mom. Mom is 76 years young and wanted to get in better shape for her upcoming high school reunion. She asked me to start walking with her and I agreed.

“Now Kim” she said, “we can’t dilly dally, we have to have a fast pace…”

I just laughed and agreed.

As we began to walk, I noticed my pace was much faster than hers, so I slowed down a bit to her pace and we had an enjoyable two-mile walk.

The next morning, I had to take Bryson to school which is beside another walking track. I decided to go walk after I dropped him off, thinking it would help me get in the habit of walking each day. It wasn’t near as fun alone, but I began my walk.

Just when I thought, “geez…this is not fun”, the Lord spoke to me and said, “lengthen your stride.”

I glanced down at the long track ahead of me and lengthened my stride.

Immediately I noticed a change. It felt good. The stretch felt good and I was gaining ground quickly. Before I knew it, I was done with the walk.  And boy did that feel good.

Later in the afternoon I was re-reading some archived teachings and read this paragraph:

Paul didn’t stop by simply saying to not look back. He went on to say that after he refused to look back, he pressed forward into all God had for him. But he didn’t stop there – he said once he refused to look back and pressed forward – he even lengthened his stride.  

As I studied this phrase, I found that to lengthen your stride means to make your steps even longer and bigger, in doing so you will cross more distance quicker. This is good! This means as we lengthen our stride, it will hasten our arrival at our destiny. That’s a good word.  Yet as I dug more into this phrase, it got even better. I discovered that as you lengthen your stride you go farther with fewer steps. Aha…you work smarter not harder. I love the sound of that. It said that lengthening your stride will have a large impact on your success; it will also improve flexibility, strength and power.

I believe the Lord is saying to us today, it is time to LENGTHEN OUR STRIDE. He wants us to arrive at our destination NOW. Even more than we do. This all goes along with the Kairos moment we are in, the divine timing of the Lord.

He wants us to go farther with fewer steps. He wants us to gain flexibility, strength and power. He wants us to go all the way to the end. He is speaking…let’s lengthen our stride!

I don’t know about you, but I love how often God is speaking during this season, how He is encouraging and empowering us to press forward into all He has for us. I love how He is making sure we do not miss His timing and His appointed season. As for me and my house, we will lengthen our stride and press in even more. How about you?

Meditate on this:

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:14

Recently, the Lord began to reveal to me a timeline of restoration that is coming our way.  As I sought the Lord about this, He showed me several areas in His word concerning restoration.

Today I want to talk to you about the promises of restoration.

Jeremiah 30:17 says, For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds, says the Lord.

The same Jesus who healed thousands in the Bible still has the power to restore health to you today!

Not only that, He promises to heal you of your wounds.  The word wounds is defined as; blows, beatings, plagues and defeats.

Are there places in your life where you feel you were defeated?  If so, restoration will come in that area!  Each time in life you felt you took a beating, God desires to restore that time, that season.

God is a restorer of life!  We see this promise in Ruth 4:15.

And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age.

I love this verse.  God is a restorer of life to His people.  He not only restores us to life but also promises to nourish us in our old age.  The older I get, the more I love that promise!

Another thing God promises to restore is our joy.

Psalm 51:12 says, Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

David knew God as a restorer of joy.

As I write this, I am reminded of a dream I had a few years ago.  The dream was simple.  Jesus had touched me.  When He did, I was filled with joy.  I could feel it with every part of my being.  I woke myself up laughing.

That morning, just two hours later, I found out my sister had passed away.  Later, that evening I reflected on that dream.  I pondered the timing of it.  I felt strongly, though I was devastated at that moment, God would restore my joy.  It was an unspoken promise that I held on to through that challenging time.

God, our God, is a restorer of joy.  If you have gone through a challenging season, it’s your time.

If you have gone through a time devoid of joy.  Take heart. He will restore joy to you.

He promises to give us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.  (Isaiah 61:3)

Do you feel you have wasted years?  Years the enemy has stolen.  If so, Joel 2:25 is for you.

So, I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust.

Many of us feel there are years the enemy has stolen.  Perhaps through health issues.  Through seasons of lack.  Or through an abusive marriage.  God promises to restore every year the enemy has stolen.  That, my friend, is Good News!

Finally, He is a God who restores our souls.

The 23 Psalm says;

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Restoration.  Recompense.  Compensation.  It is time.  It is God’s time for us to see restoration!

As I completed my study about restoration, I came across one final scripture.

This scripture was referenced for restoration.  It is Revelation 21:5 and it says; He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new! Then He said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

It’s time for restoration my friends.  Begin to declare it over your life today!

Meditate:

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Psalm 36:5

I was spending my Saturday afternoon working on notes for next week’s teaching. At least that is what I was attempting to do. My mind kept wondering here and there.

I had just come through a busy week. Every day was busy with something.

All these things were on my mind as I studied for the partner teaching call.

I began to feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit. Slightly at first. Momentarily, it became more intense.

I felt God wanted me to step away and get quiet before Him. After several minutes I walked out onto my back porch and sat down on the swing.

My porch swing, it’s where I go when I need to take a moment.

The moment I sat down; the Lord began to speak to me. He said, “lay it aside and come to Me. Lay aside the grandkids. Lay aside the finances. Lay aside the healing you seek. Lay the teaching aside. Lay it all aside, and come to Me, just as you are.”

I took a deep breath as an old hymn came to mind. I know you are familiar with it. It is called Just as I Am.  As the words from that song ran through my mind, tears began to roll down my face.

The first verse says…

Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

I knew God was speaking to me through this song. He was bidding me to come aside. To lay all the cares and concerns aside. To come to Him, knowing, my answers for each need are found in Him alone.

He alone can protect my grandkids. He is my provider of all things financial. He is my healer.  He leads me and guides me in the way I should go.

It is God who will lead me in what to teach our partners. If not Him, then it is not worth teaching anyway. God was reminding me. Everything I have need of is in Him. Sometimes we must come aside and just be with Him.

Another verse of the hymnal went through my mind.

Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve; Because Thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Hebrews 12:1 says to lay aside every weight that easily besets us.

The word besets means to surround or press on every side. It means to press you so much that movement seems impossible. That is exactly what the enemy does with cares and concerns.

Proverbs 12:25 tells us that cares or anxieties weigh us down. Have you ever felt weighed down by cares and concerns? I know I have.

For this reason, the Bible tells us to cast all our cares upon God. (1 Peter 5:7)

This wonderful old hymn says God will relieve. It is God who brings relief to all your cares and concerns. Your part is to abide in Him and remain in Him. We are kept in perfect peace as our mind is stayed upon Him.

The very reason the enemy attacks us with all the cares is to get our mind off God and onto the problem. However, if we refuse to get our eyes on the concerns, we will remain in peace.

Today, as the Lord ministered to me, I realized something. It is not only a gigantic problem or concern that will get our eyes off God. It may just be a dozen little concerns. Nothing life altering. Simply a bunch of little things.

I am reminded of the scripture that says it is the little foxes that spoil the vine. It’s not always something big that demands your attention. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to carry one large boulder on your shoulder or a dozen little ones. It is still a weight you should not be carrying.

Today I believe God is saying to you, “lay aside every little thing that is trying to hem you in and overwhelm you. Lay it aside and come to Him. Everything you have need of is found in Him. Come, just as you are. Come.”

Meditate on this:

Whenever my busy thoughts were out of control, the soothing comfort of your presence calmed me down and overwhelmed me with delight.  Psalm 94:19 (Passion Translation)

I read an article this past week that reminded me of the power of praying in tongues.

The article was not by a minister, it was by a mother.  It was actually on Good Morning America.

The article told about a Mom who heard her seven-year-old boy struggling with something in their back yard.  When she heard the scuffle, she went to find out what was going on.

To her dismay, a mountain lion was mauling her son.  He was fighting for his life.  No matter how he tried, he could not loose himself from the grip of the mountain lion.

She said her mom instinct kicked in and she grabbed the mountain lion, trying to pull it off her son.  Realizing she could not get it off him in her own strength, she did something that changed everything…let me show you in her words.

“I knew that in my own power and in my own strength I wasn’t going to be able to pry its mouth open, so I started praying in tongues. I’m just crying out to the Lord,” she said. “Three sentences into me praying, it released and it ran away.”

Oh, my word!  She began praying in tongues…three sentences into…it released and ran away.  There is great power in praying in tongues!

1 Corinthians 14:2 says; For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

John 16:13 says; However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak.

Ephesians 6:18 says; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

For this mom, and her son, praying in tongues made the difference.  It can make the difference for you too.

Praying in tongues causes you to battle from a position of victory.  It is an empowerment for spiritual warfare!

Victory has already been secured at Calvary.  When we pray in the Spirit, we battle from that position of victory.

In times of battle, it is easy to become weary, even in prayer.  Often, we don’t even know what else to pray.   At those times, I thank God for the Holy Spirit.  As Paul said, “for when we do not know what to pray, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us.”  Romans 8:26

Praying in tongues empowers you to agree with God’s plan of victory for your life and your circumstances.  Regardless of what you are facing.

Praying in tongues does not deny reality.  It positions you in a place of higher truth.  To agree with a truth that is greater than what you are seeing with your natural eyes.  It positions you in a place of victory.  The victory, remember, is already yours, through the blood of Christ.

Today, if you find yourself in the heat of the battle and you don’t know what else to pray – pray in the Holy Spirit, pray in tongues.  And remember, this mom had absolute victory by this simple truth…there is power released when we pray in the Spirit.

Meditate on this:

For nothing will be impossible with God.  Luke 1:37

Testimony Time!

I love testimonies, don’t you?  Today, I want to share a testimony from Kelita Deems.  I know personally that she fought hard for this testimony.  I am also giving you the link from the original writing she speaks of in her testimony.  God tells us in His word to share our testimony to encourage others – and we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony….may this give you the hope of overcoming as you read this awesome testimony.

KP

Last year  you shared in a motivation about sowing extra to get out of lack.  (see link below for original article) The principle was basically to figure out how much you needed to get out of debt and tithe on that amount.  If you couldn’t so that amount, keep going backwards until you could sow.  For example:  I needed $200k, but I didn’t have $20k or even $2000 or $200 so I started with $20.  And I thought, wow, it might be hard to wait until I can get $200 or $2000 to sow, but the instructions were that you could keep track…… aha!  A Sowing Journal!

So, I created a spreadsheet and every time I gave over and above my tithe, I recorded it.  My journal amounts began to increase.  I am a giver anyway, but keeping it before my eyes and keeping record only excited me and motivated me all the more.

Then the Lord prompted me to include gifts.  I kind of argued at first, but then I thought, if I give someone an item that is worth $20, that is still seed and still sowing so I kept track.  He then reminded me that I had paid for my nephew’s school lunches for three years and had me figure that up and add it.  Then He showed me an amount that was within the last year to add.  (He is so gracious) and part of this for me I believe is – I am hard on myself and don’t always give myself credit.  I believe He wanted to show me that I have been giving more and over and above for years, but had forgotten or just didn’t keep track, but HE always keeps track!) God never forgets a seed…KP

Anyway, I needed to sow over $10k in a year to reach the goal I had set.  This was not possible in the natural.  My husband and I were facing serious money situations and thousands of dollars in medical debt. 

In January of this year, God unlocked monies for us to be able to pay off a huge amount of medical debt.  And earlier this month, I thought, oh shoot – I only have a few days to reach my goal and I am still almost a thousand dollars short – but hey!  I am ONLY about a thousand short!

I kept plugging along, keeping my ears open for opportunities to give – not just anywhere, but into good soil.  And the Lord, again, reminded me that sometimes we give away things that are worth money and we don’t think about that.  We are moving in two weeks and a young couple is buying our home as their first house.  We are gifting them several items over and above the cost of the house and I finished adding them on today and BAM!  I am $36 OVER my goal and within two days of the date I began last year!

Oh, and I want to say this: keeping this journal and keeping it before my eyes has been a huge part of the success.  It truly goes along with Hab 2:2-3 writing the vision and making it plain.  My numbers were in front of me and I could see each time I gave where I was on my journey.  It motivated me to keep going.  It made me want to run with it because it was speaking to me every time, I looked at it.  This record of my giving would say – keep going!  You are doing great!  Look what the Lord is doing through you!  Keep it up!

If I had not kept my journal, I would not have known when I met my goal!  Perhaps, I would have even forgotten what I was doing.  Now I have something to speak to and water and declare over!  And I have a record!  A written record just like Habakkuk speaks of.  AND I am now in line to receive the monies I need to cancel the $200k debt in my life because I have already sowed the tithe on it!  Looking back to when I began, $20k seemed so far away…but God took my gifts of $20 and $7 and $5 and $11 and $100 and kept adding and adding to where I reached my goal.  I didn’t have $20,000 but I had $20…..someone needs to hear this!

Also, as I was preparing this to be sent, the Lord reminded me that I now have a powerful weapon in my arsenal against debt and lack.  I am not only confessing the word, but I have proof that I have been obedient to that word!  And I will take this sword in my hand and wield it and I will see the debts in my promised land taken down and defeated!  Hallelujah!

The joy that has come over me is inexpressible!  I want to cry!  Look what the Lord has done!  In the hardest, most difficult year of my life, I sowed over and above my tithe over $10k!!!!!!!!  This is an incredible day for me today.  A milestone!  I am so thankful and grateful to the Lord! 

And now, I start a new journal!!!!

Kelita Deems

The Way Out of Lack