Author: Allen Forte

Abundant living for the believer is not the same as abundant living for others.  God does not want us to seek after the abundance of the things we want in life the same way that nonbelievers seek to satisfy their wants.  The believer is called to find abundance in the middle of their needs rather than from the pursuit of their wants or desires.

But how do we know a need from a desire?  For most of us, it all seems the same.  I say that I need a car so that I can get to work, and I want a car so that I can get to work.  But these are not true statements.  We have a basic need for food and water and shelter.  But we may have desires for a steak, cold water and a big cool house.  Our wants almost always are bigger than our needs.

When we know the difference between our needs and our desires, we can move God to work on our behalf.  Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.”

Paul isn’t just saying God is good; we all know that.  He is telling us that God is a provider of all our needs when, with humility and gratefulness, we keep those needs before Him.  This is a spiritual principle that will allow you to live in greater prosperity when you know it.

Everyone—believer and nonbeliever—has the same basic needs.  God simply does not want us to act like the nonbelievers around us when it comes to fulfilling our desires.  When the Israelites were just 45 days in the desert, they complained to Moses because they had eaten the last of the food and water they brought from Egypt.  They did not see how their needs would be met.

We know God responded by raining manna, bread and meat, down from heaven to meet their needs for food.  He brought water from a rock to meet their need for water.  Still the people complained and wished they were back in Egypt where they could live by their wants and desires more than by their needs.  Exodus 16-1-14,

You must understand this principle of humble gratefulness if you are going to live abundantly just as you are.  When we are humbly grateful with the basic things that we have, God can multiply what we can do with the little we have to meet our needs.

With humble gratitude, He can feed a family for many days with a jar of oil and a can of flour.  Paul tells us that he knew how to live with much and he knew how to live with little.  Either with much or with little, Paul lived big.  Having your needs met with contentment brings joy to the heart of God.

The believer does not need to have a big house to live big in the house God has provided.

The believer does not need a big car to be the instrument God uses to provide a big ride to someone in need.

God can take the little money you have as a humbly content believer and make you spend it like it’s a million dollars.

God can take you, when you are humbly content, and use you just as you are and with just what you have to meet all of your needs and your desires too.

He does this because when we are happy with what we have, He is happy to give us more of what we would like to have but would never ask.

Learn to live in the prosperity of your need.  Humbly accept that you don’t need more of anything to live like you have more than you will ever need.  You must be both full and hungry; you must be both in need but completely fulfilled.

When you are humbly content, it does not matter what you have or how much you have.  Whatever it is, you will live better than those who live unfulfilled lives despite seemingly having more.  With the Lord it is always more than enough for you to live abundantly.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

None of us need to think hard to find something about our lives that gives us great challenge.  I have often thought to give up on some things because I didn’t think I could endure.  This is especially true for us when we are faced with things seemingly outside of our control.

Sometimes we make simple things harder than they need to be.  Sometimes we allow hard things to make us hard.  We allow incurable things to make us sick.  We feel helpless when we feel like we cannot help someone overcome something.

All this happens because we want things to either change, or we want to give up and move on.  But often, neither giving up nor moving on is what is best for us.  We need to learn to stick with some things until we come through to the other side.

In 2 Corinthians 4:16, scripture says, “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”  Paul is saying that even though things are tough, he will not give up.

Paul saw that the key to living with tough things is to understand that tough things are needed to put to death a part of our humanity that keeps us from being renewed in our spiritual being.  Every time we allow something of our humanity to die, we give life to more of our spiritual being.

This is a spiritual principle.  Dying to live and living to die.  This will work for your good if you do not give up on the things that come at you.  God has given us an amazing treasure, the Love of Christ.  But this treasure is held in our earthly lives when we need to move it to our spiritual lives.

When we don’t give up on what the Lord can do for us, we learn to die more so that we may live more.

We can be challenged all around but never overcome when we don’t give up.

We can have the weight of the world come at us, but we will never be crushed when we don’t give up.

We can be wrongly persecuted and hated but we can always keep our joy and peace when we don’t give up.

We can be knocked down time and again, but we can always rise again when we don’t give up.

How can this be?  When we carry the life of Christ who died to the temporal, we will live with Him.  He has died for your wayward children.  He has died for your sick spouse.  He has died for your impossible work environment.  He has died for your addiction.  All this so that you may live in the glory of His victory.

You have great reason never to give up.  When you give up you are saying, “I love what I’m losing more than I love what I stand to gain in Christ.”  Don’t give up on that!

I know some of us face some difficult things daily and some of us seem to get no relief.  But you must not give up.  Learn to face your goliaths with a David-like conviction to live free of bondage to your humanity.

Use your challenges to free you from the things that hold you back.  There is a bit of health in your sickness; there is a bit of patience in your impatience; there is a bit of confidence in your fear; there is a bit of control in your lack of control.

When you don’t give up, all this you may be yours because the Lord will bring you a new life that is eternally perfect.  You can live this life today in an imperfect world when you decide you will not give up.

Live a Delivered Life.

John the Baptist and Jesus were cousins.  They were born just a few months apart with John being a few months older.  I think we all know John was set apart to go ahead of Jesus and proclaim the coming of the Lord to the people.

I imagine those two grew up together as little kids.  Perhaps they even played together.  But at some point, John took to his calling and started his ministry.  And after that, when Jesus was around 30 years-old, He started His work as the Lord.

John probably got to witness a lot of stuff with Jesus that is not written anywhere.  Imagine playing a game of baseball when Jesus is the pitcher.  Or imagine trying to beat Jesus running home from school.  Yes, John probably witnessed a lot of stuff.

But, even with that, John had his questions.  He had his doubts.  Not questions about Who Jesus was, but questions about if Jesus was.  John knew Who Jesus was, but he didn’t know if Jesus was the One that he was proclaiming to come.  How on earth could that be?

In Luke 7:22-23, John has been put in prison by Herod.  He sent some of his disciples to Jesus to inquire if Jesus was the One.  So, the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, “John is wondering if You are the One Who is coming or should they look for another.”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard.  That the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

John had a moment when he forgot all that he had witnessed in his life and in the life of Jesus.  He was in prison for proclaiming the Coming One, but he let his circumstances move him to doubt if Jesus was the One.  

Sometimes, we are like that today.  We are so busy with doing the work of the Lord that we forget sometimes to let the work of the Lord do its stuff with us.  Jesus’s response to John was a reminder to John of the things done in life that only the Lord could do.

Sometimes we need a gentle reminder of the amazing things the Lord is and has done, not just in our lives, but also in the lives of the those around us.  Jesus told John’s disciples to go tell him what they had witnessed.  Sight restored to the blind.  Lame people walking again.  People healed of leprosy.  Deaf people hearing.

Like John’s disciples, we need to remember to be witnesses to the things we see and hear.  I have never seen sight restored to the blind or hearing restored to the deaf.  But here are some things we have all witnessed:

God tells the sun where to go and sit for the night.

He tells the wind where to come from and where to go.

He causes the ocean tides to come in and out.

He causes oxygen to sustain the humanity of our lives.

He keeps the stars above from falling down on us.

He tells the clouds when to stay put and when to move on.

He decided we didn’t need an ocean in the atmosphere, but it is from there rain falls to sustain us.

He tells the day where to go when night comes.

And though we cannot see love, He makes sure we can know it because He is love.

We are a witness to a lot more than we think or know.  We just have to open our eyes to the wonder of the things around us.

So, let this be your time.  Go and tell someone what you have seen and heard and witnessed.  And when they question you on these things, just let them know you’ve witnessed it all because we serve a living God and Lord who doesn’t live in a stone.

No, God is not a stone or a carved figure.  He is not the result of our imagination.  He is a living God.

Jesus lives in a place called anywhere.  And He operates in a time call anytime.  And He can be found in a place called any place because He is a living God.

Let people know you’ve witnessed that for yourself.  It’s there for them to see and hear for themselves.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

We may change many things over our lifetimes, but God never changes.  Never.  In Mark 7:8-13, Jesus gives the account of how the people changed the commandments of God by creating a tradition of man.  He tells them in Mark 7:12-13, “Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.”

We may change many things, but God never changes.  We make laws to make abortion lawful, but God frowns on abortions.  We make laws that say we can choose our genders, but God created just two genders, males and females.  Now don’t worry.  This is not a message to condemn people.   It is a message to show people how much they are loved.

Malachi 3:6 say, “For I am the Lord, I do not change.”  In a simple way, the Lord is saying He will never change Who He is towards us because He grows tired of us.  He is our father.  He will always take care of us.  He will not implement a change that says only if we permit Him to live in us will He have to take care of us.  Man would do that; Jesus does not.

So, what does it really mean, “for I am the Lord, I do not change”?  Well, for me it means God is already love and perfectly good; two things we want most in life.  Because He is love, we cannot improve on what is perfect, and we cannot improve on what is already the essence of good.  And this Love and perfection and goodness is what He means to us.

God is Love and perfect in every way.  He is the essence of good.  God’s grace and mercy assures us that He is never going to change his Love toward us.  Love, tempered with grace and mercy is enough to keep us from changing what we cannot change into something God alone can change but He will not.

Though we may lie sometimes, perhaps lots of times, grace and mercy keeps God loving us even though He hates our lies.

Though we may cheat, steal, or commit adultery, grace and mercy keeps God loving us even though He hates the things we do.

Though we may be hateful sometimes or we may deal deceitfully with others, grace and mercy keeps God loving us even though He hates what we do.

Though we may even give the excuse that we are human and not perfect, and that God loves us anyway, grace and mercy keeps God saying we are right but not right enough.  Indeed, we are born human and sinful.  This is true.

Grace and mercy give us the desire to live trying to be who God wants us to be instead of trying to get God to accept us just as we are in our imperfect sinful ways.

There is not much you and I can change that will make any real difference in life, save our attitudes and how we think about the things that are difficult.  The Lord wants us to learn that we cannot change what He has created.  We cannot create our standards for what is good and then change our behaviors to live by our standards.

The Lord wants us to learn to accept His Loving, perfect, and good work just as it is.  If it seems imperfect to us, perhaps its because our hearts are not filled fully with His love.

If your marriage, your children, your work, your church, or anything else does not seem to be perfect to you, give it your best loving, perfect, and good effort.  Grace and mercy will help you get through what you cannot change.

You must remember that you are not alone.  The Lord will help you change something about you that will change the things that go on around you.

God does not change.  We can count on that with all certainty.  God is not a man; His steadfast love remains forever.  His counsel is sure and perfect.  And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

The only thing you can change is how you feel about the things you go through.  Change your attitude and trust that God does not change His toward you – no matter what.  He does not change.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Waiting!  How many of you enjoy the idea of waiting for something, anything?  We have numerous examples throughout the bible of people having to wait for God to move in their lives.  Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the Israelites, the woman with the issue of blood, and so on.  These are just a few of the people who had to learn to wait on God.  

And did you know that King David had to wait over 20 years from the time he was anointed King to the time he became king of all Israel?  Why the wait and why so long?  Psalm 27:14 encourages us to learn to wait.  It says, “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart.  Wait, I say, on the Lord!”

Have you ever prayed and asked the Lord to make you wait?  If you have ever asked Him to help you, if you have ever asked Him to strengthen your heart, if you have ever asked Him to help you get through something, then you have asked Him to help you learn to wait.  Our problems are not God’s emergencies.

Is it worth the wait to have your heart strengthened?  Is it worth the wait to grow stronger today than you were yesterday?  Is it worth the wait to be made better as He moves in your life and circumstance?  I believe God wants us to know that waiting is part of the process of His moving in our lives.

Waiting is God’s way of teaching us how to talk with Him, how to hear Him, and how to recognize His ways.  He teaches us how to be faithful when we wait.  He teaches us how to be confident and not complain when we wait.  He teaches us how to be content in great times and to be hopeful in difficult times when we have our time of waiting.  I’d say all that is worth the wait.

But waiting also helps us to understand the idea of God’s timing.  It is in waiting that we learn He will move in our lives in due time.  In due time helps us to understand God will move in the right ways and at the right times.  If God is going to take us through the river, He may have to teach us first how to swim.  So, in due time, we will get across our rivers.

There is one thing we can do while we wait that will make the Lord keep His eyes on us and on the work that must be done in us as we wait.  We can use the time we wait to learn to be humble and grateful.  I believe humility and gratitude are the things that help the Lord to see that due time for us is closer today than it was yesterday.

1 Peter 5:6 says it this way, “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” Therefore, if you want the certainty of living in the grace of God and in knowing He is working in your circumstance, you must learn to be humble.  But this is not just being humble in your tough circumstance, it is to be humble in life.

Resolve within yourself to make sure you live humbly in all things.  If you must have your way to be happy, you are probably not humble.  If you must be well in order to feel well, you are probably not humble.  If you must have much to believe you can do much, you are probably not humble.

Humility as God sees it is the voluntary submission of yourself to the will of God.  It is to wait on God to make the right things happen at the right times in the right ways here on earth for you. Humility is saying though this thing is mine, I will not possess it unless it is given to me of God. It is saying though I have the right to have the things I can through my own ability, I want to have only the thing given to me by the ability and will of God.  Humility says in due time, the time for what is right for me to have or to do will come to me by the grace and the love of God. 

In this way God will be glorified as He exalts you because of His great love for the humble of heart.  This is why in due time the problems and issues of life for a humble person never seem to overcome them.  Instead, in due time the humble person always seems to rise above the challenges to their lives.

Learn what it means to wait in humility on the Lord, and in due time you too will enjoy the exalted life of one whom the God of Creation continually blesses with His grace and favor.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

I was reflecting with a friend of mine recently about how difficult it seems to be for us to find honorable people or companies to work for.  Seems like everywhere we turn we are more likely to find someone or business that is all about itself.

Why is that?  Why does it seem to be so hard for us to work for someone who is so focused on what is good for them more than on what is good for many.  Then I realized, things now are not much different from the way things have always been.  Today we are simply more aware of it because there is so much more of it.

In Colossians 4:17 we can find the answer to my question.  This scripture says to us, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

When I put this into my understanding I say it this way:  No matter how things may be, when it is my duty to do or to say something, make sure that it is done in the name of our Lord.

I know this will be hard for many of us to accept.  The world tells us to stand our ground and defend what is right for ourselves because no one else will do it.  Perhaps that is why so many of us choose not to do it.  But then we need only to think of Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Moses, Paul, and Jesus to see it is not hard indeed.  In fact, it is the easy way to get through a hard situation.

Someone else will do what is right for us.  That someone is the Lord when we live as unto Him.  But how do we do this?

First, I believe our own selfishness, self-righteousness, and pride is why we choose a different path from what scripture asks us to take when we are challenged with circumstances we cannot control on our own.  Even though God wants us to think of ourselves and others, He wants us to think of Him first.

The people in Noah’s time did what was right in their own hearts.  Scripture says Noah was the only one whom the Lord found His righteousness.  Noah was for God; the people were for themselves.

Daniel served God while he was in captivity in Babylon. but the people served other gods.  Daniel was for God and the people for themselves.

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery because of their jealousy and pride. They were for themselves but Joseph was for God.

Those who speak and do as if they are speaking and doing unto the Lord do so with their minds focused on how their actions and behaviors will be received by the Lord.  They are not worried about whether man is right or wrong as much as they concern themselves with how their actions will represent what is right with Him.

As unto Him.  So what does this simple statement mean?

Perhaps it means you may work for someone who is unfair towards you.  Work diligently anyway as if they are being unfair to what the Lord wants from you.  He will be fair towards you.  That is better.

Perhaps it means you are in a relationship in which you are expected to give more than you get.  Give more anyway as if you are giving back to the Lord.  He will bless you more.  That is better.

Perhaps it means you never receive the recognition you deserve for the things you do.  Do those things anyway.  God will let others know that He recognizes you for your service.  That is better.

Or perhaps it means you receive less than others for the same work that others do.  Accept what you receive as if your work is for Him.  He will bless you by making what you receive go further than it could have gone.

As unto Him means that when you stand for Him you stand against your idea of what is right and wrong for you.  It means things do not have to go your way for things to go well for you.  It means you do not have to be satisfied by man because you are satisfied with Him.

So, when things are tough, and you look around to see everyone else doing what seems right in their eyes consider for yourself as unto Him.

Nothing can change things to your favor more quickly than when you speak and do all things as unto Him who is your righteousness.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

When I think about many of the things happening with and around us today, I wonder sometimes what’s going on?  How can it be that we can seem to be so far from where we should be.  I started looking back at some of the things I’ve heard from the Lord, some of which I captured in messages like this one today.

One such message I did in 1997.  Yes, it was that long ago.  Back then I focused my messages on “Renewing Your Mind.”  When I reviewed that message today, I asked the Lord what has happened to me – to us?  Here is what I learned.  Time doesn’t make all things better.  Time often can be the thing that causes us to go astray.

Here is some of that old message and some of the new things I heard.  “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105.  I told the story of a small boy and his father.  They were walking in the way.  The father explained to the boy how he must be careful to hold onto the father’s hand for safety and to listen to the father as they made their way.

That was back then.  Today, we have so many earthly homes without fathers and mothers that we would naturally think that we can live without earthly parents and even without our Heavenly Father.  Back then we were taught we needed the steady hands of our parents to help us through life. Today we are influenced to believe we can do anything we put our minds to do.

Back then, the boy explained to the father, “I don’t need to hold your hands because I can follow your footsteps.”  The father was pleased, but he explained that there would be times when the boy would not be able to see his footsteps.  Holding hands helps us to understand the Father’s way, so we can follow Him in tough times when it’s difficult to see clearly.

Today, we are taught that holding the hands of an Almighty God shows how weak we are.  We believe God made us to live and to make the best decisions for our lives on our own.  We say we don’t need to see His footsteps as much as He needs to see ours.  We are not looking for His way; we are looking for our way.

Back then my message was about “Seeing Your Way.” Do you really know where you are going?  Do you really understand the path you are on? 

Today my message is about “Seeing His Way.”  Do you really see His footsteps?  Do you really understand His path?  And if you see and understand, do you really want to follow Him instead of yourself?

I am reminded today that we are just like that little boy in our relationship to Christ.  The boy was willing to try to follow some footsteps rather than his father.  But we should never settle for footsteps when we have the Person of the Living God we can follow.

Today we may think we know where Christ wants us to go; we may think we know the way He wants us to take, but life makes it hard to see our own footsteps, let alone the steps of anyone else.  Sometimes our lives are so complicated that we cannot see our feet, nor can we see where we are going.

So today, lets take the hand of God’s Word and allow it to light up the path we take with our feet.  We don’t need to wonder where we are going when we can see clearly through His Word where we are and where we are stepping.  The Word lights up everything around our feet so that we step onto solid ground, and we walk in secure places.

His Word is also a light to our path. With it we can see what is before us; we can see what is ahead of us, and we can anticipate what is around us that is hidden from us now.

Today I believe we have gotten off the right path because we want to light our footsteps with our own words.  I believe  we are stepping into insecure places because we want to light our paths with our own lamps.

But back then and even today, the Word is True.  We cannot see our feet, nor can we choose the right path when we do not have the word of God as our lamp.

PTL (Praise The Lord) today and learn to hold onto His hands and to listen to His instructions.  You will need to do both to make sure you choose His hand to steady your life. You will need to do both to make sure you choose His path and not your own.

Back then we were more focused on seeing His way.  Today we are focused on seeing our way.  We need to get back to where we were then so we can clearly see the way He is leading us to go today.

Live A Delivered Life.  Love you.

Many of you may know the story of how God asked King Solomon to build the temple in which God would live among the people.  The Temple was God’s way of telling the people that if they lived in obedience to Him, He would dwell among them in His house.

They had their houses.  And then God had His.  In 2 Chronicles scripture says that when Solomon finished building God’s Temple, he prayed.  And when he finished praying, God moved into the Temple.  2 Chronicles 7:1 says it this way.  “When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”

God moved in that day and started to live with and among His children.  When He did this, it is said the priests and the children of God could no longer enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.

So, what about today?  The temple built by hands for God is no longer here.  It has been destroyed many times over.  God wanted a better place in which to live among us.  He wanted a place closer and more intimate than His own separate house.  He wanted something warm and alive like Himself.

Still, He doesn’t want to just live among us, He wants to live within us.  So, He sent Jesus to prepare a way for Him to live within us by His Holy Spirit.  We ought to think of our bodies now as home to His Spirit.  1 Corinthians 6:19 says it this way.  “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”

It took Solomon seven years to build the first man-made temple for God.  And then before God could inhabit His house, it had to be sanctified—set apart—made Holy.  That is why Solomon prayed when the work was all done building the temple.

So, in a like way, we are being prepared to be His Temple today.  And God is fast at work this time Himself, preparing our lives to be His home.  The first Temple was made for God by the hands of man.

Now His next Temple is you and me, and He is doing the work Himself.  He is always cleansing us. He is always sanctifying us.  He is always working to make us more Holy each day.

Solomon used the best materials available at the time to build God’s Temple.  But with you and me, God uses the best of Himself to build up our lives to be home to His Spirit.  But this time, we get to participate in preparing a house for God.

If you want your life to be filled with the Glory of God, you should empty your life of things that bring you glory.

When God fills your life with His presence others will be drawn to you.  They will not have to stay away as the priests of old had to stay away.  No, this time, when God moves in, He invites others to drop by to see what is going on.

So, prepare yourself as best you can for His move-in.  

Make your life a resting place for His life.  If you have too many things going on with you, He may not find the place to come and rest with you.

Make your life dependent on the presence of His strength.  If you live in your own strength, He may find that you do not need His presence as much as He would like your presence with Him.

Make your life a place that shows the salvation of the Lord.  If you act like you do not need to be saved, He may move on to someone crying out for the gift of Salvation.

Make your life a place that rejoices in His goodness.  Be grateful for everything and selfish for nothing.  Gratefulness unlocks the fulness of life that is possible for us.  It makes what we have enough and more.  It turns rejection into acceptance.  It makes sense of your present and your past, so you will have a better tomorrow.  It turns strangers and enemies into friends.

So, pray that God would help you let Him finish the work to make your life His Temple.  When you do, He will fill your life with the Glory of His Spirit.  You will get to live with Him and not just near Him.

You are His Temple.  Prepare yourself to be filled by His presence.

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

Recently I have been reading the Old Testament Books of Numbers.  Numbers 1 is about the number of people who were brought out of Egypt who wondered in the desert and died.  It is the first official census or numbering of the children of Israel. Numbers 2 is about the numbering of the children of Israel who were born in the wilderness who would later cross over into the Promised Land.  Numbers is God’s ways of counting the population of His people.  God wants to keep track of the time He has with us here on earth. Now, had I been one of those people in bondage in Egypt, I would have complained.  I know that about me.  Had I been one of those people born in the desert, I would have complained.  Yes!  I know me.  When things are not going well for me, I can complain well. But then I read this scripture in Psalms 90:12. It says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” The Lord could have told me to stop complaining.  Instead, He showed me that complaining about what is happening with me now keeps me from seeing how to live abundantly right where I am. Numbering our days means we have a population of days in our futures.  We should live like we know what that population is.  Complaining will keep you from gaining insight to live through your circumstance with wisdom.  It keeps you from gaining wisdom. Complaining keeps you from living with the wisdom needed to get what God has provided for you each day, just as it is.  Complaining keeps you from seeing the little miracles God has designed for you. So here is what I have learned and what you can learn for yourself about seeing the good in life no matter how bad life seems to be for you now. Numbering your days means you live today like it is the last tomorrow you may have.  Numbering your days helps you see what is hidden by your heart from your eyes that are set on seeing how difficult things are for you. Numbering your days will make you say to yourself if today is my last day, I will live it like it is my best day.  The wisdom we gain when we number our days makes us understand this point.  When you do this, the number of days that are your best will be greater than the number of bad days in your life. Numbering your days will help you see that today does not have to be a great day for you to have a great day.  Wisdom tells you that. With the Lord, you don’t have to have a big house to have a great home.  Wisdom tells you that. Numbering your days will help you see that many of the things you lose are typically lost to make room for the things He wants you to gain.  You cannot fill your life with His blessings when it is already filled with stress over things you cannot control. Wisdom tells you that. Numbering your days helps you see that the things that happen to hinder you today are forgotten when tomorrow comes.  You learn to stop living just to get out of something. You learn instead to get through something. Wisdom tells us that. Numbering your days helps you see that when your season of bondage is today, you can live through it without it living through you.  Wisdom tells us that. Numbering your days helps you see that when your season of living in the wilderness is upon you, you can live in all abundance.  Wisdom tells us that. When we number our days, wisdom tells us to live as if we are the Lord’s no matter what we may be facing.  When we do this, we learn to live under the shadow of His wings, in the Power of His glory, in the abundance of His favor and in the excellence of His workmanship. So then, let’s learn to number our days so that we open our hearts to the wisdom He has made available to us, the wisdom that transforms how we live through any circumstance we may face, so that we will number our days with gladness. 

Live a Delivered Life.  Love you.

In Joshua 24:15, Joshua says to the Israelites, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua had shared the options the people had before them.  They could either choose to be like the people they conquered, or they could be like the people God delivered.  They had a choice to make.  What would it be?

Today, we often have the same choice.  God sits up in heaven watching and waiting to see what we will do with the things we face.  He wonders if we will choose to be like we were before we believed or if we will be who we have never been since we believed.

Psalm 31:14 says it this way.  “But as for me, I trust in You O Lord.”  In this instance this “but as for me” refers to some difficult things that we will face in life.  David says for himself and for us, no matter what is happening with him and around him, he will always trust the Lord for his way forward.  That was his choice.

So, what about us?  When people seemingly get ahead and are blessed by worshipping the things God says we should not worship, do we choose to trust Him and or them?

When we are in trouble and our very hearts and souls are wasted away with grief and sadness, will we trust Him or them?

When day after day our lives are full of grief and our strength fails because of our sinful ways, will we trust Him or them?

When we are a reproach with those who hate us and even at times with those who like us, will we trust Him or them?

When all things seem to be against us and nothing is for us, will we trust Him, or will we trust in them who are like those of the world?

Both David and Joshua are saying something similar.  They both believed God enough that they were committed to being the people He had delivered them to be no matter what.

But we have a choice.  And God waits for you and me to say to Him, “But as for me, I am happy to be your child.  No matter what.”

God is more than able to be God to us.  He is more than able to care for us.  He is more than able to save us and to deliver us from all that we face.  And if it is to be, that we are not delivered right away, He alone is still able to carry us through all that challenges us.

But He will not force us to believe.  He will not entice us to believe by offering us something He does not offer any other person.  He does not behold us to Him by saving us from anything.  Still, He is more than able to keep us from ourselves and from all that would have us.

He waits for us to stop, look, and speak to Him, and say, “All may be against me, but as for me, I will choose You still as my God and I will follow You as my God.  No matter what.”

So let this be your mind today.  You have a choice, one that the world offers and one that He offers.

But as for me, I will serve the Lord because to serve anything or anyone else may be the reason I am challenged with the things I face daily.

O Lord, things may be difficult for me, but I know You shall hide me in the shadow of Your wings.

And the things You hide are the things You keep safe.  Others may flee and run to something they believe will free them.

But far be it for me to do that.  As for me, no matter my circumstances, I will keep serving You.

Live A Delivered Life.  Love you.