This first song I sang on the morning of January 1, 2011 is “God Is Good All the Time.” Looking back on 2011, that was a most appropriate anthem to sing about our God! Another one that I sang is “Who is a God Like You.”

Here are some of the words:
Who is a god like You?
You are God!
Lord God strong and mighty!
You are God!
Lord God mighty in battle.
Creator of the heavens and the earth.
You are God!
You are God!

When I sang it, it brought me to tears! I prayed this prayer for me and so I want to pray it for you as well. This is my prayer for my brothers and sisters in 2012!

Father, sear the words of that song in our minds! Write it on our hearts! Brand it in our spirits! Etch it on our souls! Let our lungs breathe that truth! Let our voices declare that fact! Let us live lives that reflect the reality of those words!

When we do, Father, 2012 will be a banner year for the Kingdom! We will stop asking You to do what you have commanded us to do. Forgive us for asking You to heal the sick, and visit those in jail, and supply food for others, and to comfort the bereaved! That’s what You called us to do! This year we will be able to do what You have commissioned us to do if the truth of the words of that song are supernaturally carved into our beings! More souls will be saved this year than last. More missionaries in the war zone! The people of God encouraged to live out their God-given destinies and potential for the Kingdom!

Yes, Father, etch it on our hearts and . . .

• WE will heal the sick!
• WE will raise the dead!
• WE will visit the poor, sick, and afflicted!
• WE will comfort those who mourn!
• WE will drive out demons!

Let your Kingdom come, O Lord! Let your will be done! In Yeshua‘s Name! Amen.

“We would not do anything like that!”

That is what Joseph’s brothers said to the servant!

Joseph had put a cup in his brother Benjamin’s satchel. Then Joseph sent a servant to his brothers to accuse them of theft. What Joseph did is not the issue here. The issue is with the brothers.

It is true they had not stolen the cup! They could not conceive of doing such a thing. The sons of Jacob steal a cup!? From an important man!? Never!

Yet, they had done something much worse.

• First of all, they conceived murder in their minds. “Let’s kill him and throw his body into one of the wells” (Genesis 37:20). This is what they wanted to do to their little brother.
• Had it not been for Reuben, they would have killed Joseph . According to Reuben’s suggestion, they throw him in a well, not dead, but alive. (Genesis 37:21)
• Do you know what they did as Joseph was in the bottom of the well — no doubt calling for them to let him out? Crying. Begging! Pleading! I’ll tell you what they did. They sat down and ate lunch! (Genesis 37:25).
• Then Judah had an idea: “Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites. Then we will not be guilty of killing our brother. After all, he is our own flesh and blood” (Genesis 37:27). This was their own flesh and blood that they were about to sell into slavery!
• Then they stage his murder by tearing his beautiful coat and covering it with animal’s blood. (Genesis 37: 31-32)
• Then they watch their father grieve and then try to comfort him (Genesis 37:35), knowing that he could not be comforted — not even by all of his remaining children.

Yet, they could not conceive of ever stealing a cup . . . when they had stolen their brother’s life, their father’s joy, and the stability of a family.

What does this have to do with us? Oftentimes we are so appalled by accusations against us — to the point of even stating as the brothers did: “We could never do anything like that.”

Yet, we have done worse.

We have broken our Father’s heart over and over again. If false accusations come, let them remind us of how we have broken our Father’s heart, and let them spur us on to seeking to please him more. Let’s comfort our Father with our love and obedience. PRAYER: Father, forgive us for our false humility, even in the face of false accusations! Even if I have been wrongly accused of lying, I know that I have done worse. Thank you for saving me from myself and using everything in my life — even false accusations to point me in the direction of your amazing love and your amazing forgiveness. In Your son’s name I pray. Amen.

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LOOK AT GOD!

• lying in the box (manger), seemingly so helpless and frail
• squirming and restless in Miriam‘s (Mary’s) arms
• nudging up against his mother’s breasts for feeding

                                       I see Him!

LOOK AT GOD!

• working in a carpenter’s shop
• hands hardened and calloused, but nimble and accurate
• watching people get hurt and others die
• waiting for His time

LOOK AT GOD!

• doing what He came to do
• healing this one and making that one whole
• walking dusty streets
• working, teaching, healing like there is no tomorrow

                              I see Him!

LOOK AT GOD!

• dying…
• living…
• rising…
• promising…
• …returning!

I SEE HIM!

Father, help us to see what you see! You — choosing to come so humbly! You — experiencing the toils and pains of life that we do. You — coming back in all your glory! Yes, keep that moment ever in our spirit’s awareness! Amen!

Be blessed by this choral rendition of “Mary, Did You Know?” with clips from THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST.

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“It’s disappearing! The glow that Moses had on his face when he came down from the mountain after being with God — well, it’s disappearing! Maybe if the glow disappears, just maybe, just maybe, this God would disappear too.”

Did Moses think the Israelites reasoned like this? Look at what the Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:13 about this scenario.

“We are not like Moses, who put a covering over his face so the Israelites would not see it. The glory was disappearing, and Moses did not want them to see it end” (2 Corinthians 3:13).

Moses did not want them to see the glory end! He did not want this experience to be a passing phase for his people. What would they do when it disappeared? What would they do at the end? Would they still believe? Or would they doubt and complain and rebel?

So he covers his face.

Paul says earlier, “This new way (life in Yeshua) which continues forever has much greater glory” (2 Corinthians 3:11) than the former way which came with glory and then disappeared.

Don’t cover your faces! Don’t put your lights under a bushel! What is in you has greater glory and will last forever! Don’t be afraid that it will come to an end. It will never!

PRAYER: Father, thank you for Moses and the glory of the former house that you gave to him. Now we thank you for the glory of the latter house. May we live as though we are basking in a glory that will endure forever! That enduring glory will be the greatest testimony of an ever-present God who abides with us forever. Triple Amen!

This morning I woke up with a great sense of encouraging the saints today!

NEED A JOB? “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). You know what that really means? He will supply ALL your needs according to the way it brings Him glory! So today say, “Be glorified in my life, Abba.” In so doing, you work with Him to facilitate your blessing!

DEPRESSED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS? He is the lifter of your head. That means he wants you to say, “Abba, I give you permission to lift my head today and help me to look at all the blessings I have and not at what I don’t have.” That way, you work in tandem with Him to bless you with the things that will help you live a fuller life. “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head” (Psalm 3:3).

DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIPS? “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14). That is so comforting! You do not have to strive anymore. Let Him be your peace and speak to the storms in your life, in your marriage, or in your relationships with your children, co-workers, friends, family. Let’s say to Him, “Abba, thank you for being our peace. I accept your peace and I choose to walk in it today. I know you will give me the words to speak to others today inviting them to share that peace.”

Be encouraged today! You are so amazing to God because He has placed His “amazingness” in you! And just think, if you’re reading this, you know for sure that your Abba has you on His mind! So go ahead and be AMAZING today!

I recently heard a young woman say that after she was saved she felt sorry for satan, so she began praying for him.

I can understand that once you have received salvation that you want others to share in that wonderful experience and the amazing love of God. But I encouraged her not to spend any time praying for him or feeling sorry for him. He cannot be redeemed! He was in the very presence of God. He saw God’s face! There is nothing greater than that!

His name means adversary because that is what he is. God put enmity (hatred) between Eve’s seed and the seed of the serpent. Why? Because he knew that if he did not, we would not hate him. We would feel sorry for him! We would think that he means us good! We would court him and believe all of his lies. Adam and Eve did. They believed the biggest lie of all: “God knows that in the day that you eat of that fruit you will know good from evil and be like God” (Gen. 3:5). They were so deceived by his subtle lies that they did not realize that they were so like God that when God chose to come as a man he came as Adam — the second Adam.

We have so much to pray for — let’s pray for those who are falling prey to satan’s lies and manipulation, not for the Father of all Lies whose end is sure!

PRAYER: Father, you are so just and righteous that we trust your sovereignty in the adversary’s eternal destruction. We pray for those who have been beguiled by his lies. Open our eyes so that we may see the truth and not be swept away into a damnation that belongs to him and his angels, not to us — the ones made in your image. Amen.

Hurricane Irene is past, leaving billions of dollars worth of damage and a few deaths in her wake. Hurricane Katia loses speed far out at sea but forecasters believed she could regain strength. Tropical Storm Lee pours torrential rain upon the panhandle states, spawning twisters in its travels.
Fires ravage thousands of acres of Texas, incinerating trees, houses — anything in its path.

The Apostle Paul knew that this time would come. Since The Fall of Man, creation has been experiencing pangs. 2000 years ago, Paul said, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” He goes on to say that, “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23).

Wow! We are groaning! Did you know it? That’s why we ache. That’s why we have pain and disease. That’s why we experience hunger. Our bodies are yearning for the day when we will be whole and complete. And the earth is waiting for that day . . . for in that day, it too will be at peace.

PRAYER: Father, we thank you that the day is coming when all you created will be as you had designed — without flaw and defect. I know that the anguish of this life is just a temporary trial for the enduring and everlasting promise of being in your presence always, never growing tired of worshipping you. We await the day! Amen!

ENJOY “My Redeemer Lives” by Nicole C. Mullens:

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1 Day Before Landfall in Hampton Roads
Of course, today I watched the news reports because now I want to walk circumspectly. Hurricane Irene was a huge juggernaut on the screen–Swirling circles of white, red, and yellow crawling up the East Coast. And she was a Category 3 storm!

These events spoke of what people were expecting:

• My son’s band camp picnic and show demonstration was called off.
• Services at my congregation were cancelled for the weekend.
• Businesses were closing.
• Shelves in supermarkets were almost bare.
• Neighbors were cleaning up their yards making sure that any possible projectile would be stored away.

My family decided to hunker down and batten down the hatches. Then I spoke with others; some going to Charlottesville, some to Petersburg, some to Rocky Mount, NC. It was then that I realized the seriousness of the moment and the impending storm.

PRAYER: Father, bless your people and the entire East Coast! According to meteorologists, we have not been battered like this so massively since Hurricane Gloria. I thank you that we serve a God at whose voice the winds and the waves obey! Bless your people, Father.

Be ministered to by Hillsong as they sing “Still” based upon Psalm 46:

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