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Greater Is He Who Is In You…

The prayer of faith is powerful. But like anything else, if you don’t use it, it remains powerless. The lack of use then prompts the question, “Do we really believe it works?” If we did, we would use it and do so frequently. If we don’t believe it, why? Did we pray once, and nothing changed? Did something bad happen, and we are stuck because we blame God? And if we blame God, we can either think we are punishing Him by not talking to Him or because He didn’t end up being the big Santa in the sky; we’ve decided we won’t ask for anything. 

All of these thoughts or questions lead to the bigger question. Do we really know God? To know Him is to know His thoughts about us and life and His way of doing things. He said in Isaiah 55:8-9 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. (NJKV)

God said that King David was a man after His own heart because David continually conversed with God telling Him that He loved His precepts (thoughts), judgments (justice), and ordinances (established decrees for living). Moses would climb the mountain to “know God,” wanting Him to show him His glory (His divine nature and character). These men wanted God and not His hand. God then showed them His hand because they knew Him. They desired a real relationship with God and asked of Him continually. Because they knew God and His power, they didn’t doubt God or His compassion. They humbled themselves and didn’t question God’s methods because to do so would imply that they knew better than God.

They understood that God is the almighty, all-knowing, all-powerful creator of all that is seen and unseen who desires a relationship and wants to be known by us. He will hear and answer our prayers when we pray in faith believing. But believing comes from knowing, and knowing produces trust. Trusting is the silent but firm foundation that faith is built on.

When we look at Mark 5, we see that those who understood the power of God were not His disciples. It says that Jesus crossed the sea to the Gaderenes, and the demons saw Jesus coming afar off. Immediately upon getting out of the boat, the possessed man was there with the demons pleading not to be tormented by Jesus. If only we had the faith of those demons, we would see the miraculous power of God. It’s a sad state of affairs to know that demons have more faith than we do. If the devil knows to be afraid of what you carry, you need to be aware of the power you carry. That power can change your circumstance when you operate in faith.

But often, we do what the people of that region did. Jesus didn’t operate the way they wanted Him to, so they begged Him to leave their country. Can you imagine that? Because they didn’t like His ways, they rejected their savior. Let’s not be guilty of that. Let’s spend the time it takes to know our God and His ways, and in so doing, we can find freedom and deliverance from the schemes of the enemy and healing for our souls.

If we are believers, let’s believe! Let’s believe in who God is and what He will do for those who trust Him. Let’s make it our mission to know our God, and let’s welcome Him into our cities, states, and countries and see revival sweep our land. The power of God is real. So let’s believe in faith and watch God move.

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Miracles Come From Gratitude

Thanksgiving is a time when even those who don’t regularly practice gratitude try to. Social media posts are filled with challenges to be grateful for something every day, while others post funny turkey cartoons wanting to spread some laughter and joy. It’s the one time a year that we emphasize remembering the details in life that really matter and for which we should be most grateful. There is something about gratitude that compels us. We want to give to those who have given to us.

In 2 Kings 4:8-17, we read of one such event. Elisha, on many occasions, travels through the town of Shunem. Each time, an unnamed woman invites him to stop in for a hot meal before continuing on his journey. She senses that he is a man of God and wants to bless him. So she talks with her husband, and they build a room especially for him so that when he passes through, he not only can have a meal but a place to stay and refresh.

This act of generosity so impacts Elisha that he asks his servant to call her so he can speak to her. He asks her, “is there anything I can do for you?” But because she gave her gift out of pure generosity and with no expectation of reciprocation, she responds with “no. My family takes good care of me.” She wanted nothing in return, only to be a blessing.

Her response made Elisha more determined. He asked his servant, “what can we do for her?” Gehazi, his servant, perceived a great need. She had no child, and her husband was old. She may not need anything now, but without a son, her future might look very different.

So Elisha calls her back and tells her, “next year at this time, you will be holding a son in your arms!” She cried out, “No, my lord! O man of God, don’t deceive me and get my hopes up like that.” But the scripture says that sure enough, by that time the following year, she was holding a son.

Friends, it was gratitude that prompted her miracle. It was gratitude that brought back to life a dead dream. It was gratitude that did the impossible. Saints, let gratitude birth your miracle. And this time next year, we can testify once more to the goodness of God, continuing the blessing of Thanksgiving.

Jaime Luce

Photo 188329241 / Gratitude © Maria Marganingsih | Dreamstime.com
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Don’t Miss This Opportunity

I would venture to say that everyone, regardless of what you believe or where you stand on current issues, is experiencing some form of dissatisfaction. We are dissatisfied because we have genuine and tangible needs that are going unmet. But dissatisfaction breeds action. And the action we take determines whether we experience joy. Don’t miss this opportunity.

We are shown a picture of a Father who prepares and provides for His children from creation. Adam was not created and then told to cultivate a garden. God created a fully loaded garden that was ripe for productivity and multiplication. Then He placed Adam in it. Not the other way around. God knows what we have need of before we ask. So why don’t we have it?

The answer is twofold. First, we are given instructions. God told Adam, eat anything except one particular tree. But disobedience will rob you of the blessing every time. He gave similar instructions for Moses to give to the people. Deuteronomy 28:1-2 says,” “If” you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you “if” you obey the Lord your God.” (My emphasis)

To receive what we are asking for means we are living a life according to God’s instructions. We have surrendered our lives for the Kingdom of Christ and no longer live to fulfill the selfish desires of our flesh. We have died to ourselves, and we now live unto God. Living this way opens the doors to answered prayers and invites the supernatural to invade your natural. It gains access to the “already prepared for us” blessings that simply need asking for, which leads to the second reason.

We must ask! When Jesus was talking to the woman at the well in John 4, He said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” If you really knew who He was, you would ask Him. He has the gift-ready. He comes prepared. He simply needs you to ask.

James 4:2 tells us that “yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” Then in John 16:24, we’re told, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Some translations even say, “ask largely!”

John 14:12-14 says, 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Those verses sum it all up. If we live as Christ lived and ask, we will have what we ask for, bring glory to God, and our joy will then be complete. Don’t resign yourself to complain about what you are seeing or experiencing. Don’t go without. Ask God and follow His instructions.

If you need to repent for disobedience, then repent. Turn from the old way and start fresh today. He is faithful and just and will forgive you. He will help you start again just like He did for the woman at the well. She ran to tell the good news with joy. She was free from her past and now had a future, and so do you. He’s waiting right now. Ask for what you need. Follow His instructions see what God will do.

Jaime Luce

Photo 52228604 / Ask © Yuryz | Dreamstime.com
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It’s A Set Up

We’ve all heard that God works in mysterious ways. Well, those who say it aren’t wrong. When Elisha wanted to retrieve an ax head from the bottom of a lake, his instruction was to throw a piece of wood in the water where the ax head sunk. This action caused it to float. When Gideon needed an army, the instruction was to use torches and pots as weapons. They won. When Israel needed water, God told Moses to throw a tree in the bitter water, and it would be made sweet. Water problem solved.

But God’s setups are twofold. They wrought you the victory, and at the same time, they bring a fear of God to those who witness it. The awe of God can be terrifying for both the one who needs to follow His instructions and the one to whom those actions are for.

Genesis 14 tells of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. They are now three days into the desert, and God hatches a plan. He tells them to circle back to the sea because Pharaoh will think they’re lost and chase after them. I’m sure Moses thought, “that’s a horrible plan.” But God reassures him by telling him in verse 4, “And once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after you. I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this, the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord!” So the Israelites camped there as they were told.

I know we’d probably rather God just help us make the great escape out of our troubles, but you’re more important than that. God has marked you as His. You have great purpose and opportunity to let God get glory from your life. He wants to give you bodacious miracles that show you how much He loves you but and at the same time, show how mighty He is to everyone around you. He wants to win them too. 

When trapped between the sea and an enemy, don’t be intimidated. God will hatch a plan. Maybe even a mysterious plan. But it will lead you through safely on dry ground while swallowing up your enemies. You’re just the decoy. It’s all a setup. Don’t let fear stop you from obedience. Remember, He planned it this way. He’s got this, and He’s got you.

Jaime Luce

 

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How To Use Your Power

The power of God is not selfish. The Father did not give the gift of the Holy Spirit to puff up or bring glory to any person or personality. The power of God is holy. It is to empower us to do as Christ did. Jesus himself, after being made manifest at his baptism by having the Spirit descend like a dove and remaining on Him, and having the voice of the Father commend Him, went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and quoted from the book of Isaiah and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19

John said in 1 John 4:17 that “…as He is, so are we in this world.” We live in the power of the Holy Spirit to bring Glory to God by doing the works that He did as unto Him and in His name. If our Christian walk is simply to try and clear our conscience for death, we have missed it.

To be born of Him is to live from Him. From the life He has given. From the place we now have in His kingdom and for His purpose and glory and not our own. It is a place of complete humility, self-denial, and of complete and total surrender. It is a life lived for Him alone.

If all we do brings glory only to ourselves or fame and fortune for vain imaginations, we are doomed. Through the Holy Spirit, we have tremendous power to affect our world and all those around us. But we can grieve the Holy Spirit. He can be misrepresented and misused. He is given for the distinct purpose of preaching the gospel, healing the brokenhearted, bringing deliverance to those bound, sight for the blind and liberty for the bruised, and preaching the Lord’s favor over your years.

That is what we should be busy doing. Jesus instructed us in Matthew 10:8 to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the diseased and drive out demons. He told us He freely gave all of this to us so we could freely give it to others.

Let’s not waste another day or even another moment. If we say we belong to Jesus, let’s get busy looking like we do and bring glory to His wonderful name. Invite the Holy Spirit to baptize you as He did Jesus, and let’s turn this world upside down one more time!

Jaime Luce

Photo 16677271 © Jesse Albanese | Dreamstime.com
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Expect it!

There is a book available to those who are pregnant, or as we say, expecting. It’s called “What to expect when you’re expecting.” The irony is if you expect something, you already know what you are expecting. We sometimes fail to see we have this same upsidedown idea of prayer. We pray but then act like we have no idea what will happen.

Mark 11:24 (NIV) says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

If you don’t expect anything, then why pray? Why waste your time. Even in football, the quarterback may throw the last chance throw that seems improbable, hoping for a score, and we call it throwing up a Hail Mary. They don’t expect to get it, but they throw it up just in case. If you expect nothing, you’ll get nothing. You will get what you have expected.

Don’t pray as you play. Pray believing. This Father’s Day, Be like Father Abraham. He is known to the Christian world as the Father of Faith. He never staggered at the promise of God. He never considered the condition and deadness of his or his wife’s body. He was fully persuaded. Romans 4:21 “And begin fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” And he received!
Pray differently today. Expect to receive what you are believing for, not by mind over matter but by faith! It is by faith you will receive. Believe the One who promised and expect it!

Jaime Luce
Photo 97576772 / Expect © Elen33 | Dreamstime.com
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What Is A Christian, Really?

What is a Christian? Its origin held significant meaning, yet today it is a term thrown around by every kind of person with every kind of doctrine, including those which have no association to Jesus Christ or His church at all.

Those who feel the word represents “good” call themselves Christian. This comes from some sense that morality or good works are associated with this term. However, what morality is would be debatable among this group as well as what is good. The term “Christian” to them is still a word they want to align themselves with, even if it is only to comfort their conscience from some fear that hell is real and it’s possible to go there. Sadly, the term has been so diluted that those who are not Christians still claim Christianity. By doing so, they change its meaning and its value.

I, for one, want to boldly exclaim that it is indeed very important.

Acts 11:26 tells us they were first called Christians at Antioch. Its origin in Greek came from the persecution of those who were known as servants or followers of Christ. The word Christ itself means anointed one and not Jesus’ last name. A Christian believed that Jesus the Christ was and is the Son of God and not a mere man. That He died and resurrected from the dead; and ascended back into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for His saints. These “Christians” were baptized in His name, believed in the power of His name to perform miracles, signs, and wonders by healing the sick and casting out devils, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit as were the 120 disciples on the day of Pentecost, which was the gift of the Father.

That, my friends, is not a word that just anybody can claim association. These bold men and women feared God more than man, loving not their own lives. You couldn’t even serve food to the widows if you were not full of the Holy Spirit.
So today, I challenge us all to ask ourselves, am I a Christian?

Jaime Luce

Photo 138900484 © Tinnakorn Jorruang | Dreamstime.com

 

 

 

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Your time is Now!

In the early morning hours that Saturday, my phone rang. I knew it couldn’t be good. A close friend had just got word that the company we were both using to build our swimming pools was bankrupt, and we wouldn’t get our pools finished or our money back. I told my husband as I hung up the phone what she’d said. In that exact moment, a peace I can’t explain washed over me. I turned to my husband and said, “even if we are the only ones, God is going to finish our pool.” I knew it to my core.

I told my family, who agreed to come so we could pray. We all marched around that giant dirt hole and rebar, praying and claiming victory. As we finished, my mother said, “God is going to turn your water into wine!” And He did! We contacted the newly jobless foreman and workers and paid them each week. They built us a pool worthy of a Hawaiian resort. Anyone who saw it said it was so beautiful they’d never leave. And they were right! God had turned our water into wine. We paid far less than what it would have cost had it been done any other way. God used that pool for many salvations and baptisms.

When Mary asked Jesus to fix their problem of no wine in John 2, Jesus said, it’s not my hour yet. But Mary didn’t care about that. She needed an answer now. She refused to take no for an answer. Her actions backed it up. She told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them. She made it His problem and not hers.

It doesn’t matter if people tell you it’s not your time. It wasn’t time for the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 6 either, but Jesus honored both hers and Mary’s faith. It doesn’t matter if your need is for family or physical healing or whether you have a financial or situational need. The time is now!

Hebrews 11:1(KJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now is the time! Not later. Now! Be bold and believe and see your water turned into wine!

Blessings to you and yours,

Jaime Luce

Photo: is the actual pool

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Beware How You Know Him!

Jesus could do anything. He could control the natural elements, heal any disease, cast out any demon, and He could bring the dead back to life. But there was one group of people he couldn’t help. Mark 6 tells the tale of two cities. V. 1-6 is in Nazareth and V. 53-56 is in Gennesaret. Nazareth was where Jesus grew up. Those who lived there were not just skeptical of Jesus, but they were outright offended by Him. They criticized His wisdom because they knew His siblings and parents. They mocked Him because He had worked in His father’s trade. Beware—the deceptive trap of familiarity.
Jesus said that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and even his own home. Familiarity breeds contempt. These are the people who say things like, “Who does he think he is?”, or “I knew him before” and “He’s not that great.” They say these things with a fit of jealousy and critical bite.
Be careful how you judge those that God is using. Your miracle could rest in how you know them. In Gennesaret, Jesus had come minister to them. Verse 54 says, “And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him.”
These people “knew Him” too. But they knew Him in His power and His might. They believed what they had heard about Him, and they were ready to receive. They were so excited that the scripture says they ran throughout the whole region. Can’t you see it? People were running around so excited that they grabbed everyone they could who needed a miracle and lining them in the streets because they believed if He passed by, they could reach out and touch His hem and receive their miracle. And the miracle was that everyone who touched Him was made whole.
So how do you know Him? Have you walked with Him so long that you think you know Him and can no longer receive? Or do you believe that He doesn’t even have to touch you and that you can simply reach out and touch Him? Your answer will determine your outcome.

Blessings to you and yours,

Jaime Luce

photo by: dadislearning.com