Faith To Endure

Tags

Endurance, Endure, faith, Father, God, Jesus, joy, rejoice, Temptations, Trials

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations: knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4

In order for us to continue in whatever we have purposed to do this year we’re going to need endurance.   We won’t be able to continue unless we’re able to endure.   

First, we must realize and come to grips with the fact that at some point we are going to come into divers temptations.  It’s a biblical fact, the above scripture tells us so.  But somewhere along the way we believed the lie of the enemy that as Christians we’re not supposed to have any problems or that if we do, they won’t be of long duration.  My Friend, this is the lie the devil wants us to believe so that when trouble and problems come, we’re so focused on the problems and trouble that we’re not using our faith.  And if we’re not using our faith, how can we endure or stand up or hold up under the pressure?  You see endurance is an outflow of our faith.  Jesus is our faith.  We don’t use our own efforts to endure, it’s not our own strength, it’s Christ in us.  We have His endurance to continue pursing the promises of God.   Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Christ endured the cross, despised the shame so that you and I could have victory in the midst of it all.

However, if you continue to believe the lies of the devil and cry and complain when trouble comes as if some strange thing is happening to you, how can you see victory?  You’re too busy looking at the trouble.  Listen to what Peter says,

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” I Peter 4:12-13

In other words, get up from that place of pity and petting and start rejoicing.  Because while the devil is meaning it for evil God is working it for your good.

So, listen when you find yourself in the midst of divers temptations know that your faith is being tried. And if you would focus on your faith who is Christ.  You will find that from your faith there will be an outflow of strength and power so that you are able to endure through it all and not only endure but continue pursing your dreams.  Rejoice my friend and again I say rejoice.

HOPE

Tags

expectation of good happening, hope, joy, strength, Vision

Hope is a confident expectation of good happening. But in order to have hope you must first have a vision. You must be able to see something different than where you are or what you are facing.

Proverbs 29:18 tells us that “Where there is no vision the people perish.” The reason being is that without vision you have no hope, without hope you have no joy, without joy you have no strength and how can you live without strength, without strength you have no life.

David said in Psalms 42:5 “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” David asked himself the question “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” And he answers himself by telling himself to hope in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Right here there was a shift in David’s vision. He began to see something different than where he was. He began to envision the favor of God and that vision of favor caused him to hope. It caused him to have a confident expectation of good happening.

The Amplified version of Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish.” In other words, where there is no revelation or vision of what Jesus did for us at Calvary we perish because without the cross we have no life.

Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians 1:15-18, “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” We cannot know the hope or the confident expectation of good to which He has called us without us first seeing Him in all His beauty, loveliness, majesty and power.

The enemy doesn’t want you to have hope. He wants you to give up having a confident expectation of good happening in your life. So he comes to distract you by causing you to look at the things happening in your surroundings and take our eyes off of Jesus the hope of glory. He knows that the moment you take your eyes off of Jesus you will lose hope and throw in the towel. You will deem your situation as hopeless.   And there is no place to go but down when you give up.   And by down I mean physically, mentally and emotionally. You will have no joy and you need joy to have strength and you need strength to have life.  Nehemiah 8: 10 says, “…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”   If the joy of the Lord is our strength we need to know what the joy of the Lord is. The scripture doesn’t say our joy in the Lord (while that may be true) it says “the joy of the Lord.” His joy is our strength. So what is His joy?  Christ’s joy was in fulfilling the will of the Father and the Father’s will is that we have life. So the joy of the Lord is providing for us, protecting us, keeping us, healing us and giving us everything we need to live and enjoy this life. Now as we mediate upon this that it’s His joy to give to us, regardless of how dark or hopeless our situation or circumstance may be we will have hope. And if we have hope, even in the midst of all the stuff that may be going on around us we will have joy and if we have joy we have strength to continue living and enjoying life.

Look at Abraham. Scripture says he hoped against hope. Rom. 4:18, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.” Abraham hoped when there was no natural or human means for him to hope. His situation was completely hopeless as it related to him having an heir. He was old and his wife Sarah was old and barren. So how could he have hope? Abraham had to move his eyes off of the things he saw in the natural and he had to get a new vision. Remember, without vision you can have no hope and without seeing Jesus you will have no vision. Psalms 119:130 says “The entrance of Thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” The word of God causes us to see. Jesus is the Word our living hope.   Abraham was able to have a confident expectation of good happening to him because he had a word from God and that word gave him a vision. He was able to see in his mind what God was telling him. As Abraham mediated on the words of God it gave him hope and that hope became an anchor for his soul or for his mind and emotions.

Where are you today? Are you feeling hopeless, down and depressed? You don’t have to stay there you can have a change of mind and heart if you take a hold of the word of God. Simply ask the Holy Spirit to give you a revelation of Jesus and it will give you hope. It will take you from being hopeless to being full of hope.

“Now we have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whoever steps out upon it, a hope) that reaches farther and enters into the very certainty of the Presence) within the veil. Where Jesus has entered in for us in advance a forerunner having become a High Priest forever after the order with the rank of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:19-20

Challenge To Joy

Tags

challenge, deborah chandler ministries, fruit, happy, joy, joyous, take the challenge

Hey there!

Last week we challenged ourselves to challenge ourselves to grow in the fruits of the Spirit beginning with Love.  Well, how’d you do?  I hope you not only took the challenges that were presented to you but I hope you went a little further and stretched and challenged yourself in the area Love.  I know I hadn’t so much as finished writing before I was confronted with an opportunity to go beyond myself to Love.  I thank God for the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudge.  He’s always ready to give us what we need when we need it.  But as we talked about last week, the decision is ours whether to yield to His nudging or not.  As a matter of fact, growing in the fruits of the Spirit is really learning to yield to the Holy Spirit because fruits are produced in us by Him.

This week we’re challenging ourselves in Joy.   Now if you’re thinking this is an easy one think again.  Let’s look at what Joy is.  I like the definition given by the late Apostle Betty Peebles, “Joy is an inward stability that God through Jesus Christ has already work it out on our behalf.”   We can’t obtain this kind of joy it is developed or produced in us by the working of the Holy Spirit.  It’s important for us to know that nothing on the outside of us can give us joy. And that joy is not just an emotion but it is Christ in us.  Emotions can be turned on and off by things on the outside of us but joy is not affected by the things on the outside.  Yes, our emotions are affected by the presence of joy but joy itself is not just an emotion just as fear is not an emotion.  According to II Timothy 1:7 fear is a spirit yet our emotions are affected by the presence of fear.

Therefore, to challenge ourselves in joy is to challenge ourselves to allow the Holy Spirit no matter what situation or circumstance we’re going through to cause us to remain stable, trusting God that He has supplied all that we need through Christ.  Things don’t necessarily have to be all good, but in the midst of it we can have joy.  You could be down to your last dime financially but in the midst of it you can still have joy.  In the midst of everything and all things we can have an inward stability that God through Jesus Christ has already worked it out so we don’t have to freak out.

The most exciting part of this is that we don’t work to obtain joy.  It comes out of our relationship with Christ.  Jesus said in  John 15:4, “Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”  Therefore, the more that we are in fellowship with Jesus, listening, talking, giving, receiving, the more joy the Holy Spirit produces in us or the more inward stability and trust in God the Holy Spirit produces in us.

I challenge you this week to challenge yourself to allow the joy of the Lord to flow through you no matter what you’re faced with throughout this week.  Remember the choice is yours to yield or not.  However, yielding comes easy to someone you’re in relationship with.  Don’t forget I want to hear from you.  Let’s encourage each other in Joy!

Don’t Stress About Rest!

Tags

enjoy, family, Friends, happy, joy, laying back, peace, relaxation, rest

This weekend I spent my time just relaxing. No,  wait, I mean really, really, really relaxing.  I did nothing but lay around the house, listen to messages on the internet, and took many naps.  Then on Sunday evening I started to feel guilty about how I spent my time.  I thought, “I shouldn’t be this lazy, I should get up and do something.” I thought, maybe I should have used this time to do something more spiritual. Come to think of it, it reminds me of the V8 commercials when after drinking some other tastier drink you hit yourself and say “I should have had a V8.”  The stress and condemnation I was feeling had begun to undo all the rest and relaxation I’d received because if you’re not relaxed in your mind you not relaxed in your body.

God never wants us to feel condemned about anything.  I Timothy 6:17 says, “…who giveth us richly  all things to enjoy.”  Yes, He even gives us rest to enjoy.  Psalms 23:2 says, “He maketh me to lay down in green pastures.” This speaks of God giving us rest.   God not only knows how to give us rest but He knows when to give us rest.  He even created us in such a way that our bodies tell us when to rest. So, if you at times feel as though you want to lay around and do nothing, don’t stress about it, just rest.  Our times of rest gives our minds and body a chance to be restored, refreshed and renewed.  It’s God’s way of giving us strength for our journey.

Taking an entire weekend may not work for you right now but what about one day or half a day or 30 minutes.  The point is take time to rest and do something that you enjoy and don’t stress or feel condemned about it.  It’s God’s gift to you.  What are you doing to rest?  I love to hear how you’re taking time to rest and enjoy.

Free To Worship!

Tags

condemn, condemnation, free, free to worship, joy, peace, worship

Hebrews 9:14

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Every time we go to pray and worship God, the enemy is there to try and bring us under condemnation.  Of course his purpose is to stop us from worshiping God to worship him.  He comes early in the morning even before you get out of bed with some thought to bring you under condemnation.  But thank God we have God’s promised that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…” (Rom. 8:1).

Paul says in Hebrews 9: 13 that if the blood of bulls and goats was enough to cleanse the body, how much more the blood of Christ purge our conscience from dead works to worship the living God.  In other words the blood of Jesus answers to anything the enemy brings to our minds to condemn us.

Condemnation robs us of our joy and peace and it kills.  It stops us from receiving from God and most of all it robs God of our worship.   Thank God for the blood of Jesus.  We live, move and having our being in the blood of Jesus.

Therefore, when you get up in the morning and the enemy begins to give you thoughts of condemnation, remind yourself you are living in the blood.  When you lift up your hands to worship and the enemy brings to your mind something you did or didn’t do, remind yourself that you’re lifting up your hands in the blood of Jesus.  The blood of Jesus answers to any and every thing the enemy brings our way.  The blood of Jesus has purged our conscience from dead works and freed us to worship the living God.  So do it now!

All Things Restored!

Tags

bread, joy, Live, oil, peace, praise, reqrets, Restoration, restore, wheat, wine

Joel 2:24

“And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.”

The prophet Joel was telling Israel that God would send rain, the former rain, and the latter rain all in the first month and because of this rain there would be a great harvest (Joel 2:23-24).  Jesus Christ is the former and latter rain.

It is because of Jesus that our floors are full of wheat or bread.  The bread of life that came down from heaven; and that we have experienced the out pour and overflow of wine and oil, the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28).

Joel 2:25 says, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”   It is because of Jesus that whatever you’ve lost or whatever has been stolen is being restored unto you.  All of the increase that you should have had if you had never lost anything is restored unto you plus present increase.  Increase past and present, former and latter is being restored unto you.  You no longer have to regret your past saying “if only I hadn’t done this or if only I hadn’t done that” because all of what you lost is restored to you.

Therefore, Joel 2:26 says, “And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be ashamed.”   Because of Jesus the only thing left for you to do is Eat, Praise, Live!

Sing, Sing, Sing!

Tags

happy, joy, music, praise, rejoice, rejoicing, Sing, Singing, worship

Zephaniah 3:1-2

“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.  The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil anymore.”

Sing, Sing, Sing!  The Lord has given us eternal victory and we need to sing about it!  We don’t need to sing songs of sorrow and despair but songs of victory and praise to our God.  Moses sang a song unto the Lord after the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt saying “…I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea” (Exd. 15:1).  Moses sang of the glorious victory and the power of God.  Not about what he had done but what God had done.  Not about how much trouble they had in Eygpt but about what God had done.  Listen further, “The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation; He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation ; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him” (Exd. 15:2).   Moses sang of God’s strength and power and prepared a dwelling place for God.   God inhabits the praises of His people.

Zephaniah 3:17, it says that the Lord “will joy over thee with singing.” The Lord joys over us with singing because He has gotten us the victory.  Now since He joys over us with singing we can joy over Him with singing for the same reason He joys over us, because He has gotten us the victory!  David said, “Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works” (1 Chron. 16:9).  If you want to feel the presence of God, instead of saying Lord I need your presence, began to sing a song speaking of His goodness, His mercy, His grace, and His presence will rise up within you and rest in your praises.

Isaiah 54:1 says, “Sing, O barren thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married with saith the Lord.”  If you are experiencing any kind of barrenness in your life, here is what you need to do, break forth into singing.  Sing of the goodness of God because the Lord has given you the victory!  

“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord: giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:19-20). Sing, Sing, Sing!

Enough Is Enough

Tags

happiness, joy, trouble

John 16:33
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Jesus Christ came into this world to die for our sins and give us his eternal life.  He told us that we would have tribulations in this world but he also said be of good cheer because he has overcome the world.  Therefore we should be of good cheer everyday of our lives no matter what is going on.  It doesn’t matter if times are good or if you are experiencing some kind of crisis you can be of good cheer.

At some point in every believers  life you have to say enough is enough either I am going to believe God or not.   Our lives should not be this emotional roller coaster where we are of good cheer when things are good and down when things are bad.   I don’t believe that we should be so easily moved.  Psalms 125:1 says “they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.”  We are believers and that makes us unmovable.  We don’t have to be moved by the things that we experience in this world; Jesus Christ has overcome the world.  Everything that you and I would experience in this life Jesus Christ has overcome it.  So don’t worry, don’t fear be of good cheer.

You are already a believer, you don’t have to try and believe,  just stand on what you already believe; Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.  He is greater in you than he that is in the world (I John 4:4).

In His Presence

Tags

communion, joy, presence

Psalms 139:7
“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”

There is no place we can go to hide from God. Everywhere we are he is. Therefore, you don’t have to wait for Sunday morning to enjoy his presence he is where you are right now.

All it takes is for you to cultivate his presence. When you cultivate something you are stirring it up. You can stir up the presence of God in you anytime and anywhere by acknowledging he is there. He is there when you get up and have your morning coffee, when you read the paper, or brush your teeth, comb your hair, get the kids dress for school, whatever you’re doing and where ever you are he is there.

We don’t have to call him down, he is here in us abiding with us waiting and listening to what we have to say. Stir up his presence in you today by “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:19-20).

Are You Giving What You Have?

Tags

fellowship, joy, peace, relationships

1 John 1:3

“That which we have seen and heard and declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Until you have fellowship with God you really don’t know what fellowship is all about.   Consider Adam and Eve, it was out of Adam’s fellowship with God that brought about his relationship with Eve. As long as Adam walked in fellowship with God his relationship with Eve was good. But when Adam got out of fellowship with God his relationship with Eve was affected too.

Jesus came to bring us back into fellowship with God and when we believe on him it not only affects us but every relationship in our lives.  Until we believe on Jesus Christ we don’t know love and if we don’t know love we don’t know peace and joy.

The disciples had been with Jesus they walked with him they talked with him they ate with him they were in fellowship with him, he called them friends. All that they experienced with Jesus affected every relationship in their lives.

Therefore, the magnitude of our relationship with God is the magnitude of our relationship with other people.  By the same token, the magnitude of our relationship with other people is the magnitude of relationship with God.  For example, if you can go days without talking to God, chances are you go days without talking to other people you’re in relationships with.  And if you go days without talking to people in your other relationships, chances are you are not talking to God.

It’s what we have seen, heard, looked upon and handled that we give to other people.  As we see Jesus, as we are attentively listening to his voice, as we are gazing upon his loveliness and embracing his presence; that is the magnitude of what we give in all other relationships.