Hebrews 13:15 AMP

Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.

Have you listened to yourself lately? What are you saying?

Are the words that you are using glorifying God and ministering grace to all those that hear you? Or do people run from you because of the negative flow coming from your heart and out of your mouth?

We are to imitate God as dear children imitate their father. God has designed each one of us to be carriers of thanksgiving and gratefulness. We should always have something to thank God about and have control over the thoughts that we allow in our minds.

Because we are recreated spiritually through our confession that Jesus is Lord we should be the most positive people that we know. God has given us the power of His Word to change our attitude from negative to positive and affect the very words that we speak.

As we submit ourselves to Him on a daily basis as we are instructed in Romans 12:1-2 we can expect that we will be changed from the way that the world thinks, speaks and acts to the way that God wants us to think, speak and act. It’s time to check out the fruit of our lips.

Romans 8:13 AMP – For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

We have to become strong spiritually first by feeding on the Word of God daily in order to take control of our flesh. Galatians 5 lists some of the works of the flesh and they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting and “the like” (or things that are similar to these). This is a long list and only controllable by those who are walking in the spirit and after the Spirit of God.

The way that we gain control over our flesh and it’s desires is to learn an important word, “NO”! When we say NO to our flesh at the moment of temptation then we are able to say YES to our spirit! Our spirit wants to do right and wants to serve the Lord. We have to make the conscious decision to allow our spirit to rule over our flesh. Live in the supernatural rather than the natural. Take the high road and do the right thing by saying YES to the spirit. You CAN do it!

To be unified requires that we learn how to harmonize. Harmonizing is adjusting and adapting in order to produce a pleasing sound. In music to harmonize means to play a chord or series of notes at the same time that complement each other and produce a pleasing tone.

In each chord there is a root note that determines the name and nature of the chord or “key”. Our root note is God. He is the base of our chord and He is the one that each of us adjust ourselves to. We daily seek the Lord through His Word and adjust ourselves to be in harmony with Him and in doing so we place ourselves in harmony with those who are doing the same thing. It is not about adjusting ourselves to each other but each of us adjusting ourselves to God.

Let’s aim at and pursue harmony. Let’s lay down our agendas and pick up His agenda.

Romans 14:19

So let us then definitely aim for and eagerly pursue what makes for harmony and for mutual upbuilding edification and development) of one another.

Find the root note and make every adjustment necessary to be pleasing to Him. What a beautiful sound!

We say, “If the shoe fits, OUTGROW IT!” Change is the goal of every maturing Christian. In order to change we have do two things:

Identify, where we are

Move, to where we should be

The “change agent” is the Holy Spirit. He is ready, willing and able to assist us in every change that we need to make in our lives.

Zechariah 4:6 NKJV -… ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.’

The truth is that we can NOT make the necessary changes in our lives with out the express help of the Holy Spirit. We must totally depend on Him to show us what to change and when.

Your weaknesses are no excuse to stay weak. As long as you follow the Holy Spirit you are able to destroy every crutch that you have leaned on in the past.

God has not called you to stay where you are but to come up higher, go farther and do more today than you did yesterday. You CAN outgrow the shoe!

Then Jesus, full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led in [by] the [Holy] Spirit – Luke 4:1 (AMP)

He lives in us to fill us with Himself so that He can lead us and guide us. Only when He leads us are we successful and fruitful. We will do what He wants us to do and say what He wants us to say when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not some level of spirituality to be proud or boastful about but a practical “equipping” in order to be productive for the Kingdom of God. The more filled that we stay the more closely we can follow Him.

Receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a one time experience but staying full of the Spirit is an ongoing practice of yielding to Him in His presence to receive all the strength, might and power that He has for us.

We put ourselves in His presence when we worship and magnify Him. We yield to Him when we wait upon Him so that He can renew our strength by His Spirit.

Get full and be controlled today!

And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” – Luke 2:49 NKJV

God is constantly looking for people to “employ”. He has a plan and needs people to fulfill His plan. He created us to be co-workers with Him for His Kingdom. His plan is to reach all of mankind with His Gospel! He needs us to preach His good news.

Jesus at the age of 12 recognized that He had a distinct calling. Understanding this is monumental for us as “Jesus followers”. We can know (at any age) what we are called to do and that we must be “about Our Fathers business”. The higher calling on your life is the only thing that will fulfill you. God’s plan for you is the best thing that you can do with your life.

The key to knowing what God wants you to do specifically is found in the verses before Luke 2:49.

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. – Luke 2:40 NKJV

We must become 1. strong in spirit, 2. filled with the wisdom of God, and 3. have the grace of God upon us and then we will know what He wants us to do.

Let’s get with it!

Matt. 11:28  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Being stressed may be “fad-ish” but it is far from honorable and not the way that God designed us to live. We cannot live long and live strong carrying the weight and the stress of the world! Jesus worked hard doing the will of His Father but never once declared, “I am on the edge of burnout so I must take a vacation and vegetate for a few weeks”.

Jesus wants us to work hard to get the will of God done on the earth but be yoked up with Him so that we don’t become overburdened and stressed out.

If we have allowed ourselves to get stressed out it is because we have failed to get (and stay) yoked up with Jesus! We should be invigorated and energized by our fellowship with Him, drawing our strength from Him to press on and finish our course strong. Learn to wait in His presence until you be endued with power from on high! Take His easy yoke.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. – Matthew 7:24-25 NKJV

You can determine today to never ever be destroyed by a storm again. The Lord has given us a way to live a storm proof life. He has given us the responsibility to protect our lives from destruction. Many times we pray for Him to protect us from calamity but we need to understand that walking in His Word is so powerful. By conducting our lives according to His Word and becoming a “doer” of the Word of God we will stand strong against any and every storm…and continue standing after the storm passes!

Declare yourself as a DOER of the Word today (and everyday from now on!). Commit to do everything that you see in His Word, immediately. He has given us a rock to build our houses upon.

No matter how many storms you have been through and how many times your house has fallen from storm damage, you can begin today to build a fortress on the ROCK by doing the sayings of Jesus. Make His Word first place in your life and others will see your “storm proof life” and begin to ask “how can I do what you have done?”

It’s all about doing the sayings of Jesus!

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? – 1 John 4:20

When we honor, respect and reverence God we are loving Him. If we think that we love God and do not love people we are deceived and need to have the blinders removed.

We must learn how to honor and respect people to fully love God. Another way to say this is that you cannot disrespect and dishonor people and pretend to love God. You may say “You don’t know how much they hurt me…” or “I was abused by my father and I have these issues…it is hard for me to trust…”. There is no excuse for disobeying the Word of God and dishonoring and disrespecting people. The truth is that no one is worthy enough to deserve our respect and honor. We give respect and honor in faith out of respect and honor for God! And when we honor and respect God, He honors and respects us. (1 Sam. 3:20) The more that we honor and respect God the more that He honors and respects us. The greatest way that He honors us is with His presence. More honor, more of His manifest presence in our lives, families and churches. God desires to display His glory but it will only be displayed where He is honored. (Acts 2)