“Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me”. This was a saying as children growing up we had when someone would say bad words to us. After experiencing life many years since, I’ve come to know that words can hurt and cause damage to us that may never heal. Our broken bones will heal automatically but damage to your soul, if not dealt with using the words of God, that will lead to other complications in your life. Because your operating system, your mind, your soul-ish area has been grossly affected by the harmful words of someone. Over time our words carry much weight in changing things. Since we’ve been made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27), we have limited creative power by declaring and decreeing a thing to come to pass by speaking faith filled words based on the scriptures. When we speak what God speaks concerning our lives, the power will be activated on our behalf. You can have what you say, good or bad (Mark 11:23) over time it will happen. So stop telling your children they won’t amount to anything in life because you’re frustrated with dealing with them. The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak (Luke 6:45). Your mouth will speak whatever your heart is full of. If there’s a lot of dirt down in there, then dirt’s coming out your mouth. If you curse a lot, then you’ll be sending out curses to all who hear your voice. The encouragement is to speak words of life and not words of death. “How are you doing today, Oh, this heat is killing me”. Or a funny joke was told and your response was, you’re killing me, not good. The tongue has the power of life and death, what’s on your tongue?

‭You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. How would you like for God to prepare a table in front of your enemies, meaning letting your enemies see the prosperity of the Lord in your life. They will see you start to prosper, not only financially but an increase in intelligence and character will come because of your connection with the table. Once we have demonstrated our own loyalty to the Lord, our true commitment to follow Him, He brings out the table of blessings. He anoints our head with the refreshing oil of release from all stress, which can only leave you with the peace of God flooding your soul. Since the Lord is our shepherd, and because you are allowing Him to lead you as sheep, goodness, and mercy along with unfailing love shall follow you all the days of your life. We must come to the realization of our connection to the vine. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). Without Him we can do nothing and can expect less from Him by way of supernatural help. Jesus is the good shepherd and He’s alive and well today preparing your table of blessings right in front of your enemies (John 10:11-18).

There are times we may have a close brush with death in life. Whether it’s something we’ve fallen into due to a poor decision, or it’s a straight up attack from the enemy. The goal when these times come is to have no fear. Even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil. The Lord will never allow us to go through more than we can handle. I believe when any and every storm in our lives comes along, it has to first pass through God’s hands for proper vetting of the intensity attached to the trouble on its way to you. God allows trouble, crisis, and times of unrest into our lives to accentuate our faith muscle. Without “Overcoming Faith” operating in your life, you will experience more challenges because of it. Because the Lord needs us to get it, and the only way to get it is to go through your troubles victoriously with God. All we are required to do is to trust and believe God will bring us through it no matter how bad it looks. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Whether it’s self inflicted or you just fell into some mess unaware of that thing being such a problem, your faith will deliver you. The Lord will never leave us or forsake us no matter what is going on in our lives (Deuteronomy 31:8). He’s not a man that can change due to pressure, He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). So don’t trip, (freak out) even in the valley of the shadow of death. If it’s not your time to die, God will make sure of that. Jesus has the keys of death and hell now (Revelation 1:18). He can unlock the death door, or lock it until your time has come. There’s a much bigger picture to obtain about life on planet earth. In the meantime, fear no evil!

‭The Lord is our Shepard to oversee and guide and to protect us, His sheep. We are called sheep because it is expected of us to be led. Led to where the green pastures are. Those green pastures are indicative of vibrant life flow areas, and seasons of plenty. The still waters are restful times of peace that bring drama free seasons of ease from our daily struggles. When the Good Shepard leads us to paths of righteousness and right standing with Him, that’s the ultimate fellowship experience on earth. To be kicking it with the Creator of the Universe without the thought of not being worthy to stand in his presence, that’s priceless. In the old testament, the saints of old would be instantly taken out for their disobedience and sinful ways. Jesus has restored to mankind our original position of right standing with God and freedom from the condemnation of sin (each person is responsible to accept Jesus). If you’re still not done enjoying the pleasures of sin yet, then this will not be for you, and you will feel the condemnation of your wrong doings. He guides us along the right paths for His name’s sake. We are God’s Ambassadors while here on Earth and God’s reputation has been brought down due to Satan’s demonic influences on people. We are destroyed from lack of knowledge, and Satan will keep us ignorant of God’s true glory and splendor if we let him. The Lord is our Shepherd, and we shall not want for anything as long as we stay in the sheepfold, and out of the devil’s playground.

Be alert at all times, the Bible says. Because our mortal enemy the devil prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour. These words are from the Lord to His family, His followers. The devil goes around like a Lion who wants to take you out (John 10:10). The history of the devil goes back before man enters earth. He is well versed in our make up, our weaknesses, and how God’s word can make strong believing Christians. Once we know the truth, (Jesus) that truth will set us free from all habitual wrong doings. We make choices everyday of our lives concerning one thing or another. The devil knows if he can get a foothold in your decision making, he can control your circumstances. Being of a sober mind puts us in the ready position. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound, clear thinking mind (2 Timothy 1:17). Having a sober mind means having a well trained, disciplined mind against temptations and the sin that so easily besets us. We must run this race with a balanced pace undergirded with patience. There are times when we may yield to our emotions when we’re tired. But make no final decisions until you’ve prayed on it, and you get the green light of peace and zero stress about the decision you’re leaning towards going with. Never feel pressured about anything, don’t allow anxiety to have any place in your decision making. If there’s no peace of mind, then most likely God’s not in it. We Christians are all going through many of the same battles in life, it is not a strange thing that has been happening to us all. We are in the army of the Lord and you must fight, so be, and stay alert!

‭Things that are visible are temporal, brief and fleeting, so what does that mean, glad you asked. Things that we see with our eyes have been created by an unseen entity (The Lord). Things that are unseen are deathless and everlasting, because God Himself made all things living, and everything seen by the human eye. The spirit realm where God and His Angels reside is what gave birth to this natural realm, Earth. There are two different laws in effect down here on earth, natural and supernatural. Our job is to bring the blessings of the supernatural realm down to this natural one to help us in life on a regular basis. The idea should be fixing our eyes on the things of the spirit realm by faith in believing God will have our backs, which He always does. Keeping our eyes, our focus on that which we can’t see is where the work comes in. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by God’s word (Hebrews 10:17). There’s a lifestyle to be had which makes it all possible. We walk by faith, not by sight, and we are led by our human spirits not by our flesh, emotions (2 Corinthians 5:7). We receive instructions for our God given assignments in our hearts, where God’s still small voice is speaking to us. Our new recreated human spirit speaks to God’s Spirit, and vice versa so therein lies the God connection for every person. Cultivating hearing the Lord’s voice takes time well worth it. The more of God’s word we are hearing and being a doer of determines how sensitive to God’s voice we’ll be. His word is conditional and full of perks that keep us blessed, so do your part and God will do His.

‭We have all been like sheep and have strayed away from God’s path to follow our own. We get caught up into going astray in a very subtle way. We start out under the instructions of how to proceed with the assignment the Lord gave us. We eventually come to a road block of sorts and instead of praying about it right then and there, we figure things out that we’d do from instinct, or past reasonings. Wrong, we must acknowledge God in all our ways so He can direct our path at all times (Proverbs 3:6). We can determine our plans but the Lord determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9). When we find ourselves having gone astray from the straight and narrow pathway, there is always a way back on course. Like the prodigal son who left his home to explore forbidden pathways which caused him much pain and suffering. His father gladly received him back home with honor (Luke 15:11-32). Sometimes God will allow us to go off track for the testing and growth of our faith. We will never be perfect or fully matured spirit, soul, and body until we are with the Lord in the next life. It is expected that we are going to mess up after becoming Christians, but it’s not a free ticket to sin. Going astray ultimately took place when Adam and Eve Handed over the authority of the earth to the devil through their disobedience to God. We’ve all missed it in life many times, but God has made a way for restoration, will you take it.

‭The truth will set you free, now if we could just get people to walk in it. The devil is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). He has his followers who are professional liars, they have been trained in lying, how to fix a lie, and manipulating them to get others to do what they want them to. Lying is one of the seven detestable things God hates (Proverbs 6:16-17). Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, no man or woman gets to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). There’s no shucking and jiving with the Lord, stop dancing around the truth. You either come clean of lying, or go down with the father of lies to the pit on the last day. You get set free with the truth because there’s no more need to fix a lie, or the covering up a half truth. Just come clean all the way and you’ll feel the difference in your life. No longer having to continue doing the work and the up keep of always having to figure out how to get out of the next situation. Once you make up your mind that you’re going to tell the truth from now on even if it leads to your own hurt, do it! (Psalm 15:4) If there are people in your circle who cannot handle the truth, you’re hanging around the wrong people. We will always be limited dealing with falsehood as the foundation of whatever we’re doing. You can’t build anything of value and worth on the promise of a lie, only truth will stand up to whatever comes your way, good or bad. Join the army of truth, and leave the bondage of your lying friends behind.

‭The rest of God is obtained by obedience to whatever God’s telling you to do. Our obedience to God’s commandments will lead us into God’s rest. His rest is a place of refreshing, and comfort, and safety. There’s a fight to enter into this rest that God supplies. Our enemy knows of it, and Satan knows if we find this truth, it will hamper his plans of stealing, killing, and trying to destroy us, which is the devil’s ultimate goal (1 Peter 5:8). The rest of God provides an invisible shield to the natural eye, but very visible in the spirit realm where Satan and his cohorts are, along with God and His Angels. In this natural realm, earth, we have at our disposal the weapons that are mighty through God to the pulling down of enemy strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). Knowing how to wield our arsenal of God given weapons is vital to help protect the Rest of God we obtain, because it’s a fight to keep it as well (Ephesians 6:10-17). This rest of God will never be obtained if there is unbelief in the camp. Like Israel in the wilderness for 40 years, their unbelief caused them to not enter into God’s rest, neither did some of them enter into the promise land God was taking them to. Make every effort to enter into God’s rest, and begin to breathe in the freedom of a less stressful and less combative season in your life.

‭To enter God’s rest, we must cease from our own works of human labor. Weariness and pain can come from human Labor as most people know. We can retire from physical labor and enter into the rest that only God can give. God rested (looked back on His creation to appreciate and enjoy what He created Genesis 2:2), He was not weary from work, He’s not human. He has retired from the labor of creation long ago and has made available to us the Rest of God, which is to stop laboring and just enjoy our achievements in life for a time. We can get into a habitual mental loop of having to keep things going all the time which creates in us a mental stronghold that won’t allow us to rest. You know what I speak of in the midnight hour. You can’t sleep because of it, your mind keeps going and going and going when it’s time to go to bed. The Rest of God can break those horrible sleepless nights of unwanted mental activity. The reason people do not enter the rest of God is because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:18-19). Obedience to the Lord’s commands always plays a major part in receiving anything from God. Entering into the Rest of God is totally dependent upon us, each person. There are certain benefits from God that are automatically inserted into your life simply by obeying the Lord and His wishes. Learn of Him and watch all things change for your good.