Good Morning Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I enjoy waking up each day and going to bed each night knowing my Father God has and is blessing me. His blessings are continuous. I have an ABSOLUTE belief that my wife, my children, my grandchildren, and I will be increased Spiritually, physically (body and mind), materially, and financially – EVERY DAY. God promises me this in Psalm 115:14 and Psalm 68:19. What I’m learning is God wants us to step out in faith and claim all our benefits. God’s benefits are all His promises to us.
A few months back, my Father spoke to me about my waking up and my going to sleep, Specifically He spoke to me about my attitude, my mindset, upon waking up and my attitude, my mindset upon going to sleep. Now on the surface, I’m thinking this is somewhat petty and inconsequential compared to all the other things of the day. However, the more time I spent meditating this and communing with God about it, the more I came to understand my attitude, my mindset upon waking up or going to bed has everything to do with the success of my day, my sleep at night, and the start of the next day.
What is your image of yourself? I’m not talking physically. I’m talking Spiritually. Do you see yourself the way God sees you or do you look in the mirror and walk away criticizing or in love with yourself. If we start our days off seeing ourselves as God sees us and speaking declarations of God’s Word over our family, ourselves, our day, our business, our job, our health, our marriage, our children, our finances, our possessions, etc., in faith, we can be assured of a prosperous and successful day.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Every Word of God is impactful in our lives. But Joshua 1:8 is an absolute dynamo. It is THE BLUEPRINT to a prosperous way and good success in your life. God makes it clear we are to continually speak His Word and promises over our lives. The more we meditate on the promises and the verses accompanying them, the greater our faith grows, and we become a “fully persuaded” and powerful Believer.
So what is different about my waking up and my going to bed now? Upon waking, I’ve chosen to change my attitude and my way of seeing things. This has revolutionized my understanding of my Father and His desires for me and of the outcomes in my prayer and declaration life. When I awake in the morning, the first thing I’m seeing in my mind’s eye are streets of gold. I envision myself walking down streets of gold with all kinds of beautiful things around me. The people are warm, friendly, joyful, with excellent countenance, glowing health, and well dressed. They are full of energy and life force and just seem to pulse with happiness. Everything is manicured beautifully and precise. The colors of the flowers, grass, trees, and other plant life are striking and rich. The architecture is warm, inviting, cozy, with curves and lines I’ve never seen, all so pleasing and comforting to the eye and mind. When I speak, the words are full of life and Spirit. As I speak words of joy, everything seems to grow brighter and brighter, more colorful, and my energy grows and grows. When I make declarations, things begin to happen – out of thin air. I know, many of you think I’ve lost it. I could go on and on, but I believe you get the picture. It is a glorious place, The Kingdom of God. Now, God said to me I’m charged, we’re charged, with bringing The Kingdom of God to the earth, to our areas of influence. We’ll speak more about this because the Body of Christ is so anemic in the area of The Kingdom of God on this earth.
In the evening when I retire to sleep, I speak The Word of God over my family and me. I bless The Lord for blessing us throughout the day, I bless our sleep (Proverbs 3:24), I bless our dreams and visions, I bless the fruitfulness of the day, I bless our bodies and minds, I bless The Lord for going before us to set up our tomorrow, I bless the increase that is occurring while we sleep, I bless those we will have contact with tomorrow that we will shine the countenance and light of Jesus Christ to them, I bless everything that we will put our hand to tomorrow, and I bless The Lord for His ministering spirits (angels) that protect my family and me as we sleep and protects our homes and possessions. No one will be stealing anything from my home or trying to cause damage. If someone tries it, they’ll meet with the hosts of God standing guard. God tells me in His Word this is my heritage, my inheritance, so I have an expectation of this being done when I decree it.
I’ve found that shaping my attitude in the morning and in the evening through decreeing and seeing God’s Word has really helped me to overcome and prevent things from causing my day to go sideways and from any fearful or sleepless nights.
I also speak Words of God over the day and blessings over my family – all from The Word of God. I’m developing my image of my family and myself in God for the day.
Psalm 1:2-3
2 But his delight is in the law of The LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in The LORD, and whose hope The LORD is.
8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Deuteronomy 6:10-12
10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which He sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
11 And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
12 Then beware lest thou forget The LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Notice all the wonderful and blessed promises of The Lord for us in the above verses:
- Whatsoever we doeth shall prosper.
- We will always be fruitful in all areas of our lives all of our days.
- Our leaf (our health) shall not wither and shall always be green (health, vitality, energetic life force).
- We always be sustained because we are planted by The Lord beside many waters (Holy Spirit always feeding us and prospering our soul which in turn prospers our health and finances ((III John 2)).
- Heat (economic downturns globally, domestically, or just in a business sector) shall not affect us.
- When the drought comes (economic blight, loss of job, etc.), we will not be careful (anxious, upset) because The Lord has blessed us to prosper during these times.
- We will occupy great and goodly cities, which we didn’t build, we will have homes full of good things, which we didn’t fill, we will receive wells we didn’t dig and vineyards and olive trees, which we didn’t plant.
Reading the list is exciting. What an image to start your day. Jesus made it clear this is our heritage, our inheritance. When? Now! No, not when you get to Heaven like religion teaches. We don’t need it in Heaven! We need it here and now. Why? So we can be a witness to the world both in Word and in deed that God’s Word is true, powerful, and self-fulfilling when decreed in faith. Otherwise, why does the world need our God, our Jesus, if we have the same problems and outcomes they do. satan is a skillful deceiver. We cannot allow him to hijack God’s promises for us, which are to be fulfilled here in this earth, and make us think we are less than we are. As long as we stay deceived, satan has us in bondage, and we aren’t fulfilling God’s plan for us.
I Corinthians 4:20
For The Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
The Holy Spirit, through Paul, tells us in I Corinthians 4:20 that talk is cheap. Anybody can talk. I hear so many “talkers” every day. But one year from now, nothing or very little has changed in their lives. We have to make a “fully persuaded” decision we are going to “walk the talk” and that we EXPECT to have tangible, physical results manifested from the Spiritual realm of God. The Holy Spirit tells us the same thing in the Book of James in a different way.
James 1:22
But be ye doers of The Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Again, The Holy Spirit tells us “talk is cheap.” If we don’t begin to exhibit power through faith with manifestations of what we’ve decreed, then we need to get with The Holy Spirit and inventory ourselves humbly and openly before The Lord to find out what is preventing us from manifesting the power of God in our lives. I pray this is a passion of yours. Yes, we’re going to make mistakes along the way, but, as Peter did, we’ve stepped out of the ship fully persuaded we can walk on water, that we can manifest God’s power in all areas of our lives and bless others with it.
In closing, start your day out with a few minutes of decreeing God’s Word over your family and you and with praising and thanking God for His grace, His compassion, His mercy, and His benefits.
Psalm 68:19
Blessed be The Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even The God of our salvation. Selah.
What I love about Psalm 68:19 is the word “loadeth” in the Hebrew means “God exchanges His benefits with us for our burdens.” Every day when we awake, God is waiting for us to give Him our burdens (I Peter 5:7, Psalm 55:22) and He gives us His gifts – DAILY.
Have a blessed Friday and weekend. Happy Veteran’s Day to all who have served. I have a special shout out to Captain Art Galvan who gave his life for this country in Desert Storm in 1991. Art went to college with my wife and me (and some others in this email distribution). Art was prior enlisted and was going through college to obtain his undergraduate degree and become an officer in the US Air Force. Art had a wonderful wife and two children. But most importantly, Art was a Brother in Christ. I always admired him for his stand in Christ and for how he adored his wife and family. I can’t wait to see Art in Heaven and thank him for his influence on me as a young man and for his giving of his life as part of the aircraft crew of a Special Operations AC-130 shot down protecting our men from the Iraqi’s on the ground. And to thank his wife, his children, and his grandchildren for sharing their precious father with us. Art was truly selfless, but I was too young to understand it in college. But what an enduring lesson and example he has been to me through the years. YOU NEVER KNOW THE IMPACT YOU HAVE ON OTHERS IF IT IS THROUGH CHRIST.
If you’re going to another level, you must change your diet. We’ll talk about this next week.
In Christ,
Larry