Praise To God Is Not About How Good He Makes You Feel

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Praise God for who He is.

Praise God for who He is.

Praise to God is not telling Him how good He makes you feel. Have you noticed how many songs we sing in church are about us not Him? They’re nice songs, don’t get me wrong. I sing them a lot, because I love them. But when it’s time to praise God, I want it to be straight to Him, not a round about compliment about how I’ve been blessed.

Praise is about how good God is. It is declaring His holiness, His goodness, His beauty and mercy. It’s standing before Him in wonder and awe as we look on His magnificence. Our praise should go straight from our heart to God because of who He is, not what He’s done. There is a time for that thankfulness, but praise is about adoring God.

When we really get down to describing how awesome God is back to Him, it can be a very humbling experience. We see just how big and amazing He is. He is God and deserves to be praised for His holiness and grace.

Get over that nagging whisper that says that God is an egomaniac who demands praise from us. That’s the enemy trying to twist the truth. God is God, and His holiness is enough reason to draw praise from our lips, as well as all His other aspects that we love so much.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

Wisdom Is Yours For The Asking So You Can Make Smart Decisions

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God is the source of all wisdom.

God is the source of all wisdom.

Making smart decisions is always a good idea. Work smart. Avoid making mistakes you may not be able to go back and fix. And the best way to do that is to work with the One who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Prov 9:10) Of course, we’re not supposed to live in “fear” of the Lord. It means honoring Him, turning to Him, because He is wisdom.

That means that you need to hear Him when He talks to you. It’s not as hard as you may think it is. Settle your spirit and listen with your heart. If you know you need to repent about some things, then do that. If you don’t hear Him, ask Him for help. Pay attention to your thoughts. Did you just get an answer or idea about what you asked? Then go with it.

Include God in your business, your family decisions, your schoolwork. Imagine getting divine guidance and special treatment on the projects you are working on. It all starts with honoring God and making Him the great love of your life. Turn to Him first and get the wisdom He loves to give.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

The Praise Of Children Is Mighty Powerful

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There is something so powerful that is unleashed when children are free to worship God. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Ps 8:2) Wow!

Let kids praise God the way they want.

Let kids praise God the way they want.

We think that spiritual warfare is about declaring and fasting and Bible thumping. What we really need to do is call the kids in and have a worship service. The praise and worship from kids is about as powerful a force as you can get.

Kids get excited and don’t hold back. That’s why God loved David so much. He loves honest exuberance. Children can feel the presence of God as easily as adults, and it feels as good to them as it does to us. And when they praise God, they silence the enemy! How amazing is that!

Raise up a generation that knows how to praise God and we will change the world. Raise up a generation that knows the love of God and the kingdom will be released and the enemy will have nothing to say about it. And as they grow and see miracle after miracle, there will be nothing to prevent them from doing so much more than Jesus did.

Let kids praise God the way they want to. It’s wonderful and powerful.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

Teach Your Children To Pray | They Will Be Amazing

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Teach your children to pray. Teach them from as early an age as you can. Let them know how normal it is to pray and watch God answer. Let them watch you pray and sing and encourage people. They will hear what you say, but they will learn what they see.

Teach your children to pray.

Teach your children to pray.

The faith of children is truly dynamic, as in “relating to physical force or energy”. Their faith is not filtered or adulterated with bad philosophy or theology. It’s pure power, because truth is truth to them.

Show them how to ask God for what they need. Include them in family prayer. Let them pray over their friends and their pets. Never, never prevent them from praying for you. If you’ve never had a child pray for you, you have no idea how powerful it is.

Don’t assume that you have to teach children a watered down version of the gospel. The same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is theirs as well. God loves to partner with kids, and they will see Him work in amazing ways. Let them pray for healing. Read them stories in the Bible about how God used children and encourage them to trust God. The earlier the better. Those are the kids that will be world-changers.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

What Will You Say When God Corrects You?

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Making mistakes is part of life.

Making mistakes is part of life.

This is life. Life is messy and we will make mistakes, but we learn and we grow. But growth only comes if we learn from our mistakes. We have to be open to hearing what we don’t know and we need to make sure our pride doesn’t block us from learning.

Growing as a Christian is the same way. We will make mistakes, That’s not really as terrible as you think. Unless you are being obstinate about living in sin, you’re probably not going to make mistakes that will blow up the world. God is more interested in your efforts to try to obey. Making the effort and failing is better than making no effort at all.

I love this scripture, I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. (Habakkuk 2:1) Make a determined effort to let God teach you. Be on the watch for His correction. He is a truly loving Father, so His correction will be kind, and it will be right on.

God’s correction may come from the mouth of a friend, so be open to receiving it. We all need guidance and counsel. Getting it from God is the best way to learn. Repent if you need to, and thank Him for showing you what you need to know.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

Nothing Is Stopping You From Praying For Healing

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Pray for people to be healed.

Pray for people to be healed.

Jesus sent the disciples out to heal the sick and they did. Would you do that? You can. If they could do it so can you. It just takes practice. If you really want to see people healed, then you have to pray for people to be healed. Just do it.

If you have friends who want to do healing, get together and practice on each other. Everyone could use some kind of healing. Look up scriptures on healing and declare them as you pray. That’s agreeing with God. it’s His word and He loves to heal, so agree with Him and believe.

As you start to see God answer your prayer, do more. Be brave and ask someone if you can pray for them. Not every healing is instant. Many times it will come in the next day or two. Many people who Jesus touched were healed as they left, so don’t be discouraged. You may only see partial healing, but that’s awesome! Go for it!

If you have the Spirit of God in you, then you have it in you to release healing to those who need it. Don’t be shy, be bold. Jesus was our example so we know He wants to heal the sick and hurting. Imagine if everyone in church would do that. We could clear out hospitals. How many people would be touched by that? Be brave. God is with you.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

You Are Not Helping God By Judging What You Think He Doesn’t Like

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The kingdom of God is about showing kindness.

The kingdom of God is about showing kindness.

If we are told to love those who abuse us (Mat 5:44), what do you think we are expected to do if they only disagree with us? For some reason, the church thinks it’s ok to wage a holy war against any ideology that it disagrees with. Yes, abortion is bad. Yes, gay marriage goes against God’s word, but so is lack of self-control. I won’t even stir up that mess.

Don’t you know that you catch more flies with honey instead of vinegar? The crusades were a great example of how not to win people to Christ. The Spirit of God is not behind name calling and anger.

We need the compassion of God. We need to feel His heartbeat. If we can love those who are lost with the same passion that He does, there’s no way we wouldn’t sacrifice to help them. People who don’t know God will make terrible decisions. Even people who do know Him make terrible decisions. We can’t judge them because of that. We need to love them and show them a different way to live.

Ask God to show you if you’ve been judgmental. Just repent and tell Him you’re sorry. Ask Him to give you His kind of love so you can show the kindness of God. That will change far more than angry words.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

Confess Your Sins And Be A Friend

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The kingdom of God is all about loving each other.

The kingdom of God is all about loving each other.

One of the many reasons for us to be connected as family in the kingdom of God is to have people you can talk to. The Bible says to confess your sins to one another and pray for each other. It’s a lot easier to confess your sins to someone who knows you and understands you than someone you don’t know well.

This openness with each other is helpful. If we are confessing our sins to each other, then both sides are admitting weakness. There is no religious attitude of superiority if one person is admitting sin and the other one is not. There is no judgement because we know our own faults.

The adage is that confession is good for the soul. I agree with that. Any sin is destructive, so having someone pray with you about areas you are weak in is a huge help. Holding onto sin, or hiding, it will only harm you.

We all know the areas we need help in. Be honest with your friends and let them support you. Be a friend to someone else and pray for them. Breakthrough the strongholds in areas that are hard to overcome with prayer and faith. That’s why we are here for each other.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

Don’t Be Too Old For The Kingdom

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Relax and dance a little.

Relax and dance a little.

Don’t you love to watch little kids dance? What’s not to love about that. You don’t even have to be related to them to get teary-eyed. Their lack of self-consciousness is delightful. They dance because it’s fun and it feels good. And it’s that innocence that God loves when we step away from our grownup attitudes and relax a little.

Do you ever dance a little when you’re alone and a great song comes on TV or your iPod? Even a just a little shuffle step? If you can’t manage that, then you’re way too old for the kingdom. And I don’t mean because you can’t dance a little because of age-related issues. Age is in the heart, and we are called to be as little children.

Have some fun. Do a little dance. God is not impressed by our propriety. He’s impressed with our passion. Look at David! He danced so much he embarrassed his wife to no end. And God loved Him for it.

I challenge you to dance like a child. If you have to be alone to do it, then so be it. Sing a little song while you do. The joy of the Lord is so much greater when we stop fretting about how we look or what other people think. Turn your eyes to God, and do a shuffle step with Him.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart

 

If God Is Your Shepherd, Then You Are Living Blessed

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The twenty-third psalm is such a wonderful inspiration. It should be your go-to source for when you need to be picked up and hugged. The Lord is my shepherd, the one who is in charge. He knows where He taking me. He knows the way, where it’s challenging, and where it’s easy. It doesn’t matter because He’s going with me.

If God is your shepherd, you are blessed.

If God is your shepherd, you are blessed.

He takes me to places of comfort and peace. Perfect places of peace where I am rejuvenated and strengthened and rested. He takes care of all my needs. He knows exactly what I need, even when I don’t, and He has it all worked out.

And when we have to go through the scary places, my eyes are only on Him, so I don’t see anything to worry about. He makes me so comfortable in His presence, that I’m not stressed by anything, even if everyone around me is freaking out.

He blesses me and blesses me and blesses me. I am so blessed, I can’t get my arms around it all. It keeps spilling over. And still He blesses more. I am so happy to be with Him. And I know I will be with Him forever and ever. I never want to be away from my Shepherd.

 

Read the first chapter of my book Crucible Heart