Learning Contentment in all things!

We don't just come into this world with the attitude of being content in everything, no one naturally lives in contentment! This world is full of people who have everything and are not content with what they have. This is true for some Christians, while we should be the ones who are showing the world that there is a place of contentment, it can sometimes be the  opposite.

I want to look at the Apostle Paul for a bit and see what his secret was to "happiness, contentment, peace"which he wrote about  in  many books!



Like I said we don't just arrive into this world as an infant, and then grow up with all this contentment just oozing from us, no we have to be taught it from our parents. It must be instilled into us to appreciate things and be thankful for what we have. So what was Paul's secret to why he could write what he did, and tell us his secrets to live for Christ the way he did and have the right attitude?  And why  all the hardships he faced in life he was able to overcome them all, "ship wrecked, naked, left for dead, hungry, beaten, imprisoned ", and then still praise God?  This is a human man, just like you and me, no he wasn't anything more special than us, GOD loves us all the same. So what was his secret?

PHILIPPIANS 4:8-13-Finally , brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. 

verse 11-for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.

So what was the secret? It was his thinking on the the things that were true, that were lovely, that were pure, and honest, and had a good report! It was was in thinking on these things, not on all the bad things he went through or was faced with at the moment, he was able to say"REJOICE, and again I say ALWAYS REJOICE IN GOD". If we are focusing on the negative always, its a wonder why people are not happy. We must implement this in our lives as Christians, and really draw from what Paul is saying.

In verse 11 Paul said he learned to be content, yes LEARNED, it didn't just arrive for him or had some special treatment, he learned it. He said whatever circumstances he was in, and how many of us can say we have been what he went through?


We have all learned something, to speak, to write, and to read! This was not how we came out of the womb it was learned, it was taught to us systematical from the simple to more advanced, its laying a foundation and building on it! Its a choice to learn it, we can all have knowledge on something, or hear something in school, but that doesn't mean you learned anything.You must apply yourself to it, you have to have a desire to learn, right? Pursue it and be hungry to learn in order to get it.


Paul loved God so much so that he gave his life for the gospel he was willing to die, he found the secret of loosing his life that true life would be gained, found! PHILIPPIANS 3:7- But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.

These verses of scripture are powerful truths that we must learn in order to rise above life's circumstances. I hope you will be encouraged to apply this to your life, as we all need to !

"Whats your Spiritual Pulse"?

We all have a pulse, but what is your "spiritual pulse", would it register if taken? There are things in the spirit that keep our pulse going, things we must learn to do, to practice, by that I mean practice the presence of God in your life. Its so simple as spending time with Him, and allowing him to be the most important person in your life! We know that oxygen keeps our pulse going in the natural, other wise we would die. Then as born again Christians  that believe what the word of God says we must know we need a spiritual pulse to overcome!

PHILIPPIANS 4:1- Therefore, MY brethren, whom I love and yearn to see, my delight and crown wreath of victory, stand firm in the Lord!

Paul is telling us to stand firm in the Lord, Paul knew what it meant to stand firm. He of all people was faced with so many things in his life. He counted it all joy, because he knew that God was with him. He then goes on to say in the preceding verses to rejoice.

PHILIPPIANS 4:4- Rejoice in the Lord always( delight;gladden yourselves in Him); again I say , Rejoice! I really don't think Paul was putting a suggestion out there out there to do this, it was a command right from the Holy Spirit!

This goes against our culture to do this, its basically saying we are denying the problem to the world! There are many who are enemies of the cross, they want to put you back into bondage of thinking its all by our good works, and not the Grace of God,isn't that why Christ died, to give us freedom! Paul addressed putting no confidence in the flesh in the book of Philippians, and pressing on toward the goal as well. If we are to do this then part of it will be to make sure who you are hanging with!

Follow the right people in life, associate with people who are going to build you up in the Lord. I like to say something I heard many years ago by a man of God I respect, "Increase by Association" it matters! 1 Corinthians 15:33- Do not be misled; "Bad company corrupts good character". There is a real benefit to hanging around the right people, as you can see from that scripture. If your spiritual pulse is to stay alive then take that to be true.Proverbs 13:20- He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.

 Our Joy should come from the things of God not on the external things in life. It is nice to have them don't get me wrong, I do enjoy them, God said he gives us all things to richly enjoy, but that is not our focus !

So even when it looks foolish to say I REJOICE ALWAYS, AGAIN I SAY REJOICE IN THE LORD, this is going to keep your spiritual pulse alive! Paul said that because he knew the results of doing it would cause a reaction in our spirit! Rejoicing should not be a result of circumstance going the right way for us, Rejoicing has to be a part of life no matter what the circumstances. This will have to be cultivated in our life, and when you are around the right people they will encourage you to do this. As born again believers we have all this in our spirit, we just need to draw from the wells, put the bucket in and draw out of the wells of living water in our spirit! Galatians 5: 22- But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience , kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self -control.


So go against those feeling of defeat, discouragement, and Rejoice, and Praise the Lord, Praise is our weapon it stills the avenger, its rubbing his noise into something he cant stand! Psalm 8:2- From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

So whats your spiritual pulse if someone could take it? Prime the pump and praise Him even if you don't feel like it, rivers of living water will spring from your inner most belly! He loves you, and wants the best for you!!

Arise and Shine!

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you, See darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you . Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. ISAIAH 60:1-3.

That is an amazing scripture, meditate on it and see what that is saying! Jesus has come to the world the light of the world, a Savior for all mankind. Now receive him and get up and let this light shine in you, today! The Glory of the Lord rise upon you! If someone was to ask you what does Glory mean to you, how would you define it? ACTS 10:38-how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. This is the Glory of God right here in action, the Glory of God is his presence, his power and his goodness! God was with Jesus, he was anointed with power and he went about doing good that was the ministry of Jesus when he came to the earth! HEBREWS 13:8- Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

That Glory is there for us to partake of right now in our lives, His Presence, His Power, and His Goodness. He hasn't changed we need to expect more of this in our lives, this is the solution to any problem we face, any attack we may have in your life. It says that the nations will come to our light, and the brightness of your dawn! What they need to see is His Glory on our lives, if we are not believing and getting the atmosphere in our lives lined up with this how will they see it. How will they say, look at them, I want what they have, they can face anything with their God. They can do anything because of the God they serve!

Darkness covers the earth and is over the peoples, that is saying it's over their minds, darkness is an absence of spiritual and moral values. Wouldn't your agree that is our world today? I just can't believe what I see on TV, and they call that entertainment. ISAIAH 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who puts darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 

We are in these days where we are seeing this right now, men are legislating to get what God would "consider evil"  they want it approved. We must arise and shine with the Glory of Lord in our lives. That would mean for us to start charging the atmosphere in your life, in your kids life and in your home with EXPECTATION OF THIS!

The further the world goes into this darkness, the greater the manifestation of His Glory on us!

                                                   BUT, WE MUST BELIEVE IT, AND DECLARE IT!

We must let His Glory shine on us, let our light shine in this dark world so that others will come to the light. Let them see His presence manifest in your work place, even in your church, bring it into their and influence others that might be going through something. Let others in the world see that the power of God is still their to perform miracles  and heal , just as Jesus did. And tell others how God has been so good to you, that He is a good God, and wants the best for them, Tell people, don't hesitate to declare His GOODNESS, people really are looking for this, they want results in their messed up lives. We are the ones with the answers to give them, So charge your atmoshpere and declare it. Thank you Lord God this is my time for greater manifestations of Gods presence, Gods power, and Gods Goodness than I've every experienced!
Remember how much he loves you!

Don' let your hearts be troubled!

In a world where there is so much turmoil and fear, I thank our Lord Jesus that he left us with these words in John 14: 27- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 

 I wasn't going to write anything today on my blog, but I felt that someone needed to hear them, so if this is you take them and be encouraged with them right now! You know faith is a choice just as fear is a choice So  believe these words he had given thousands of years ago now, why, because he knew we would need to read them and believe them.

One of the greatest things we can learn in this walk of faith is what we are to yield to and what we are to resist. If we yield to him and humble ourselves and let his amazing Grace help us in our time of need then we will resist the turmoil and fear he is talking about in that verse.

When fear is given room to develop in our lives, its because of an absence of faith and confidence in Gods love for us! So know that he loves you and receive this word today!

Take up the full of armor of God!

To some the armor of God is not a subject of any importance, its  not been taught enough  in the church today. Its a big part for us as Christan's knowing what this armor does, what its for and why! I am just going to touch on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14- Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.

We need this armor to take everything the devil throws at us, which are his tricks, schemes, lies and wrong thoughts. No we don't fear him, but be alert of him! 

First of all we stay strong in Him, not ourselves, that is why God has given us His armor! Its the good fight of faith we are in, and yes its a good fight. What would be the point of being beaten up and defeated all the time, it wouldn't be a good fight then. We have seen movies with soldiers fighting with the armor on, well this is not a physical armor, its spiritual. So picture yourself in faith dressed and  ready to wear your armor, wear it to bed, arise with it never take it off. This belt of truth is encircled around us, the sword of the spirit on it, which is the word of truth! The breastplate of righteousness protects your heart, your lungs, your vital organs and it covers your front and back! So why this breastplate? 

Its given to extinguish all the flaming arrows the enemy sends at us, his schemes, lies, all the wrong thoughts. One of the key areas the enemy want to say to you is, your not given "His righteousness". Sometimes people get so hung up on that word righteous, and say how dare you think we could be righteous, or call yourself that. The truth of it is, none of us are righteous not one. Lets see what the word says though. 2 Corinthians 5:21- God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That is saying that we are now in right standing with God now. The judgement of sin came on him, because of Jesus the sinless Son of God became sin for us,he paid for us all, the whole world. We can't earn it, its a free gift. So we take up that armor of His righteousness, put it on IN FAITH, and cover yourself front and back. So when the enemy comes at you with those flaming arrows, saying who do you think you are, look at what you did, your not acceptable to God, in his eyes your not good enough! If we believe this then we have not put on the armor of righteousness, you become a target for the enemy, easily pierced by these arrows. He is the accuser of our brothers, Revelation 12:10.

We must say no to this and say, NO,I am in right standing with God, because of what Jesus did for me at the cross. This is what the Breastplate of righteousness does it protects me against a barrage of lies he tries to tell us.We must put it on, by faith! 2 Corinthians 6:7-By speaking the word of truth, in the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand to attack and for the left hand to defend. These are weapons of being right in God, weapons of being right in His eyes! Either the word is true or we are all doomed with no hope, But thanks to Jesus it is true and we have hope and are able to wear this with confidence! 

How do you know you are wearing it? Its when God says to you put it on, I paid for it, I love you so much, I did not leave you to be devoured in this life, cover yourself up front and back! Then YOU can say with confidence " NO TO THE LIES, AND SAY" GOD SEES JESUS WHEN HE LOOKS AT ME"! My righteousness wouldn't cut it, BUT His does! 

He has made you something in Him! Look at Him with confidence knowing how much he loves you. If you have messed up, confess before Him, don't play games just say" Lord I messed up, he is faithful to forgive all our unrighteous acts! Receive it today by Faith and put on the full armor of God!

Lets not be ignorant of what we are fighting!

If you know what the word of God says then you will not be ignorant, God equips us with TRUTH! In knowing the truth, we will have to contend for our faith, in what the word of God calls the good fight of faith! 1 Timothy 6:12- Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

We are on the front lines to do what God has called us to do, and hold fast to our faith in this life. Many are in denial thinking that we have a part in this good fight, and what we are fighting! We are not up against anything to fear, but its only the schemes, deceitfulness, lies of the devil.  Jesus spoiled principalities of the enemy, so we must resist his schemes. He hasn't changed his pattern,the word says he is looking for someone to devour, we don't want to be the someone! He came to Adam and Eve in the garden with lies as well, they should of stayed on the truth, and said GOD SAID ! And one part of our fight is in our good confession. Jesus always held to his confession of what his assignment was, and who he was! It must be the same for us, we must not be sleeping and unaware of these schemes.


1 Peter 5:8- Be well balanced ( temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring ( in fierce hunger) , seeking someone to seize upon and devour, withstand him; be firm in faith against his onset-rooted , established , strong, immovable, and determined, knowing that the same identical sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood the whole body of Christians throughout the world.

So that tells me he is not going to show up at your front door is he? No he is going to come into your house of thoughts as I like to put it. So we must check our thoughts at the door, are they saying what the word says about you? We will be easily defeated when we don't know what the word says, I may repeat myself in my blogs about this truth, but we need to get it!

We don't fight aimlessly, fighting the air, without packing a good punch, no our answers are found in the word. We must cast down those vain imaginations, thoughts that turn into wrong beliefs!Those beliefs then turn into words," wrong words then into wrong actions,  and then wrong living". If enough of this takes place you can swallowed up and devoured like it says in that verse.

Jesus warned us in Matthew 24:4- " Watch out that no deceives you"

There are plenty of scriptures to warn us against being deceived, that's why we must have this belt of truth buckled around our waist like it says in Ephesians 6;14- Stand firm then, with the belt of TRUTH buckled around your waist.

If you read that full chapter that is the first part of the armor that must be in place when the evil day comes against you. Its because everything else mentioned about the rest of the armor attaches itself to this truth, other wise you are exposed to fiery darts, Lies. Every part of this armor is designed to protect you from specific lies!

Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will make you FREE, FREE from all his schemes, lies and house of thoughts that try to deceive you, and take you captive into wrong thinking. We have His mighty power to cast down all these thoughts, he gives us insight into all this through the word.2 Corinthians 10:3-6. 

Ephesians 5:8- For you were once darkness, but now you are the light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth.and find out what pleases the Lord.

We are not to be unaware and left always saying I don't understand why God, why. He gives us the answers and equips us to run this race and do what he has called us to do.

Revelation 12:11-They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness.

I see in that verse words are involved, a bold word, so lets be a believer who boldly declares the word in this good fight of our faith, and not be ignorant of his(enemy's) schemes,and lies that try to deceive many. Let us run this race with diligence and be over comers!

Stand your ground, hold fast!

As I wrote in my previous blog about Peter, and his presumptuous faith, lets look at him some years later! How he learned from his knock down fight,to getting back up, and going on to teach others to  hold fast in the faith. The Grace of God is and must be involved to overcome.God has provided this Grace, but we have to posses this Grace by faith. Its in possessing it, the fight starts, why? Your enemy doesn't want you to have it. , that's when the resistance to pick it up begins. At times there will be serious resistance to pick it up, BUT, we have serious Faith, to steadfastly resist the enemy of your faith.

Years later Peter learned through humility and now on the other side,he teaches others how to hold steadfastly to your faith. There are lessons to be learned from Peter, other wise it wouldn't be here for us in the word!
1 Peter 5: 5- Cloth yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore , under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

Be self- controlled and alert, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

Peter is saying don't under estimate your opponent, know that when you humble yourself and allow God to train you up through the word, you are being equipped for this good fight. Its like in the natural when top fighters train for there fights, what do they do? They eat well, exercise, watch that they don't hang out with people who will make them feel like they can't win this big fight that's coming up! So it is with us, if you are not in a fight right now, then we should be training for one! We are to be ready, equipped all the time! We have to know the devil schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:11- After all, we don't want to unwittingly give Satan an opening for yet more mischief - we're not oblivious to his sly ways! But thanks be to God who always gives us the VICTORY, THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD!

God always gives us insight to how to fight through his Word, and how the enemy attacks.
2 Corinthians 10:4- The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
So how do we do this certainly not on our own.

Ephesians 6: 13- Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand, Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition all this , take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. 

There is a reason we need all this armor, our enemy is going to shoot at us, and we need to protect ourselves, learning how to respond, to stand steadfast in the faith. He wants you to be clueless and not know where all these thoughts come from, imaginations, and fiery darts that hit your life. The word says Faith comes from hearing and hearing the anointed word of God, we can lose it the same way, by hearing the wrong negative things that come against us, same principal at work here!

It is pride to think that we can entertain anything, say anything and it will not effect our faith, it will! We should be in training, and cast down things in our life that want to exalt themselves above the word ! What does it say who we are?  We are over comers , we are the healed, we are prosperous, we are blessed, we are free! Shut down all other things that say you are not, stand and hold fast in your faith! This does not mean you are striving, no quit the contrary, we can rest in Him, and do all this from a position of Victory! Knowing he has won the fight for us! We just walk it out without being passive about things! So this is part of our daily walk with Him, things we must be aware of, I'm continuing on in future blogs, hope you read it and be encouraged! Always remember he love you!