#159 - Give Your Battle a VOICE!

GOOD MORNING! It's a bit chilly out there today!! Is it where you live?? Yesterday was rainy and cold, definitely an indoor day. We enjoyed the weekend in Indiana doing business & visiting my family.... got home around 2:00 am yesterday after a 13 hour DRIVE! Yes, DRIVE! Even with a 1 year old! Wow! Quite amazing, I know! Tyler Jr was quite a trooper, such a good little traveler. Nonetheless, after getting home, bringing some stuff in, and finally getting to bed, we were rolling upon 3:00, so TJ & I slept in yesterday! He didn't wake up until 11:30!!

Well, let's get going and see what the Lord has to say today! :)

Psalm 29:2 - Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.

Psalm 29:3a, 4a, 5a, 7a, 8a, 9a - The voice of the Lord...  The voice of the Lord...  The voice of the Lord...  The voice of the Lord...  The voice of the Lord...  The voice of the Lord... 

Psalm 29:11 - The Lord will give [unyielding and impenetrable] strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace. 

As I began into my Quiet Time this morning, like usual, I first pulled out my journal and began to journal. I couldn't help but look back over the month and be thankful over all the things the Lord has done. The little things and the big things. How HE has completely just provided. I was reminded of how our Father provides by getting a package off the front porch this morning. It was a package for Tyler Junior! A pair of shoes & a summer outfit. He does not even know it, but he is completely provided for! All his needs are met ALL the time! And if he had any needs, he would have grandparents falling in line to meet them, to bless him, dress him, feed him, do whatever to provide for any and every need. As that was my "before" experience before my Quiet Time... I started out with just a grateful heart, thankful how the LORD provides! Through one means or another, He provides, He comes through. His grace, His mercy and when it doesn't make sense on paper, it's by His grand Provision! Like Psalm 29:2 says, Give the glory due HIS NAME! Give Him the glory that HE deserves! We all have things to be thankful for, health, finances, family, relationships, protection, clothes, a warm home, living in an area that HASN'T been hit by a Tsunami or earthquake. We have SO much to be thankful for. Give Him the glory due His Name! Give Him the glory! 

Thank you Father! Thank you Lord! We PRAISE YOU right now! We PRAISE YOU for all you have done! Thank you Father for providing! Thank you for protecting! Thank you for your hedge of protection! Thank you for being great and mighty! Thank you for allowing ME to be your child, for allowing me to be an heir. Thank you Lord for sending Jesus. Thank you that I, with the mistakes and all I have done, thank you the you have given ME a second chance. Thank you for forgiving me, redeeming me! Thank you Father for forgiveness! Father, I PRAISE YOU! You are SO worthy to be praised!! Thank you that you are Jehovah Rapha, God our Healer! Thank you that you are Jehovah Jirah, God our Provider! Thank you that you are Jehovah Nissi, God our Victory, our Banner! You are God our Peace, Jehovah Shalom! Thank you Father! We praise you! You are so worthy to be praised! 

As we read further in Psalm 29, out of the 11 verses, 6 of them begin with "The voice of the Lord." As I read these... they revealed something MIGHTY that the Voice of the Lord brought forth. ie: Makes the wilderness tremble, Splits and flashes forth forked lightning. The verses remind us how POWERFUL the Voice of the Lord is. As I was reading them, the immediate thing that popped up in my spirit was this, WE, YOU & I, are made in the very image of who these verses are talking about! We were made in the image of God. Where it says the VOICE of the LORD is powerful, we could also substitute this: THE VOICE OF AMY is powerful! The VOICE of Deb is powerful! The Voice of David is powerful! The Voice of Stephanie is powerful! Put your name in there! As children of God, WE were made in HIS image! When we committed our lives to Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we were given a power that can only come from heaven. We were given power and authority to operate in strength on this earth! And, we can read verse after verse in Proverbs and throughout the Bible on how powerful our Words are, the strength that our Words hold. Even God did it to Abram in the old testament. Abram & Sarai, married, no children and past child baring years, what did God do? God SAID, I change your name to ABRAHAM, which means Father of many Nations! I change your name from Sarai (which means quarrelsome) to SARAH, which means Princess. In a time that they did not have ANY children, and were getting old into years.... old? Yes, even as old as 90 years old! Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 before they had their first child, Isaac! But, WORDS! Words are powerful! Putting VOICE to our situation is so powerful!

Still a bit uneasy on accepting it? Fast forward down to Psalm 29:11... what does it say there? The LORD will give unyielding and impenetrable STRENGTH to HIS people! One way He gives us this strength, is through our ability to TALK! To give VOICE to a situation! "My God supplies all MY needs according to HIS riches in glory! I call my bills paid!" - "By Jesus stripes, I AM healed! I call this headache GONE in Jesus Name!" - "I have FAVOR in the sight of God & man, therefore, in this situation, in this meeting, I THANK YOU God for FAVOR! Unmerited Favor!"

The Lord gives STRENGTH to HIS people! Begin today with your Voice! Satan can't hear your thoughts. You can't fight your battles in your mind, with your thoughts, you MUST give WORDS to your battle! You must SPEAK! Give your battle a VOICE! In your voice is STRENGTH!

#150 - Call those things SO!

Good morning! All is well here in Columbia, South Carolina! What about where you live? I'm sitting here enjoying the nice singing tunes of Tyler Jr. He just woke up and is laying in his bed just talking and singing. It is quite funny! I think he gets his ability to sleep from his MAMA! :) What can I say?!

OK...well, let's get started today.

Romans 4:17 (amp) - As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.

Romans 4:17 (kjv) - (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

Over the years, the latter part of Romans 4:17 has really become part of our daily confessions in any and every circumstance. Some may call it being legalistic, we choose to believe that we are just careful with our  words that the words we speak line up with the Word of God. That our words are not contrary to God's Word! Sure, there are times when maybe we have to be cautious not to "call anyone else out".... even though people may speak things they really don't want to receive.... let's just say it's been a learning process over the years.

Let me tell you a story... I used to work at a youth camp in the summer. We did lots of activities each day, soccer, capture the flag, tennis, etc. Well... on this particular day, we were playing capture the flag... and I always played with the kids. As we were playing, I pivoted on my foot and turned my knee. It just happened to be the same knee that I tore my ACL & miniscus when I was in High School. I fell to the ground and all I could do at the time was scream. Some of the staff, and one of the parents carried me and got me into a vehicle to bring me to the Emergency Room. Shortly after arriving at the ER, Tyler showed up. The doctor on call, said things did not look good. In the mean time, some close friends waited in the waiting room... their words were something like, "Oh man, I just know she tore her ACL. That is a real bummer. She'll probably have to get surgery & go through therapy again."

Tyler came back to where the Doctor was... I would have to go see a specialists once the swelling went down, but the Doctor said there was an 80% chance that the ACL did look torn. When Tyler overheard our friends saying they were sure I tore my ACL, he just made a simple comment to the tune of, "Well, she's my wife and I call her knee healed. I call it fine because by Jesus stripes she is healed." Though the circumstances looked pretty dim, and even the words of the Doctor sounded bleak, Tyler chose to believe the WORD of GOD over the word of the Doctor.

During the next week, we spoke and called my knee healed. Though I was on crutches, we called my knee fine. We called it whole in Jesus name. We called it well! Perfect! That everything would be lined up as GOD had created it to be lined up. Fast forward a week. I went to see the specialist, and do you know what the outcome was? All is well. Everything looked good. Everything looked fine. No tear. ACL in tact.

What are some other common things you may hear around our house?

• Instead of, "I have a headache." We say, "By Jesus stripes I am healed of this headache! Since headaches have a name, and EVERY NAME has to bow to the name of Jesus!"
• Instead of, "We don't have any money." We say, "We have more than enough because MY GOD shall supply all of MY needs according to HIS RICHES in glory!" 
• Instead of, "This situation doesn't look good." We say, "I have the favor of God and God even makes my mistakes to prosper."

Over the years, we have just chosen to find our answers in the Word. Has it seemed radical to some, I'm sure it has! But, it has brought VICTORY in our lives and in the situations we have gone through that we have chose to speak the WORD, instead of what looks like the situation really is. We have chose to speak those things that BE NOT as though they were! Like in Romans 4:17. If we feel sick, we speak we are healed and walk in divine health. If we have been broke or without money, we've spoke, we have MORE than enough because OUR GOD owns the cattle on 1,000 hills! We have just taken scripture and spoken it on our behalf and it has brought VICTORY to our lives!

I encourage you.... next time you are tempted to speak the grim circumstances that you may be going through.... choose to speak the WORD! Have GOD'S WORD and POWER work on your behalf! Did you know that the ANGELS are dispatched by the Word of God!??!!!! Angels are empowered to GO FORTH when the Word of God is spoken. I just choose to have them working on MY behalf, so I speak the WORD! :)

Have a blessed day!