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Press On!

Phillippians 3:13-14, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Are you pressing? Though the road has been challenging, are you pressing forward? Though all may have forsaken you, are you pressing? Even though you have a past, are you pressing? Even though you’ve had some successes, are you pressing?

Paul had experienced it all. He began with a past that left him feeling he was the least. A worm at best. He had been blind, beaten, shipwrecked, bitten by a snake, and abandoned, to name just a few. He knew failure in ministry and relationships. He wrestled with his flesh, saying he didn’t do the things he wanted to, and he did the things he didn’t want to do.

On the other hand, he was rocking the world by bringing the gospel to the gentiles. He had brought the baptism of the Holy Spirit to those who hadn’t so much as heard that there was a Holy Spirit. He healed the sick and raised the dead. He mentored and fathered new Christians to lead, and he mended and reunited relationships with those once torn. He authored thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament and finished his race well.

With a new year upon us, let us remember what Paul taught. Forget what is behind. There is a prize to win that God has called us to win. The enemy would love to keep us locked up in the things we can’t relive. It isn’t an easy thing, of course. Paul said he strained forward. The original Greek for that word means to exert oneself to the uttermost. It’s hard work. It’s a stretching, and stretching is painful. But like a rubber band, once it has been stretched, it will never be a small as it once was. It has grown.

We, like Paul, must press on. That word press means to move rapidly and decisively toward. To hasten and to run. Before we know it, 2023 will be at the door, and what will we have done? Let’s press on. Let’s leave the past in the past and stretch toward the prize. To look back is not to press but to regress. It’s time to advance with precision. We’ve got a race to win, and 2022 is just the year to do it. Press on saints. Let’s win the prize!

Jaime Luce

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Work Your Favor And Use Your Gifts

Favor is a funny thing. It’s not garnered because you desire it. It is bestowed for reasons only the one giving can determine. Jacob had 12 sons, but it was the 11th that captured his heart. Joseph was the firstborn from the woman he’d worked 14 years to marry. Because she remained barren for so many years, Joseph was not conceived until Jacob’s old age. Finally, seeing the fruit of that love gave Joseph the favor that no other son could achieve. The giving of a gift showed Jacob’s favor and affection. A coat of many colors.

But as they say, “Favor ain’t fair.” His brothers hated and envied him for it. Their perception of his favor, dreams, and gifts was that Joseph was a threat. Though they were older and had more position, they would lose that status if Joseph’s dreams were true. They blamed their possible feat on Joseph’s favor and gifts. They hoped if they removed him and his glaring coat, they’d not feel the lack of their own dreams. Yet stripping Joseph of his colorful coat and selling him into slavery only exacerbated their problem. Now they had to continually witness their father’s grief and sorrow, cementing forever the favor that belonged to Joseph.

Potiphar’s wife had a problem with it too. She thought she could manipulate and use Joseph’s favor for personal gain. She wanted to partner with it and share in his favor. What he carried was so evident that though she held position above Joseph, she wanted what he had for herself. By keeping his coat, she thought she held power to control Joseph’s future.

Even in prison, Joseph’s favor was present, putting him in charge. God was positioning him for his breakthrough.

You may feel like Joseph. Your situation seems to be going from bad to worse. Even if you’re still in a prison, feeling forgotten, use your gifts anyway. Bring heaven’s interpretation to the lives of those in the prison with you. Don’t entertain the lies of the enemy. You are destined for greater things.  If your dreams are still unfulfilled, hang on. Envy, manipulation, and delay can’t stifle the gifts God has given you. This is not how your story ends. You have not lost your favor. There are countless numbers of people who need your gift. Your position is being set. So, work your favor and use your gifts.

Jaime Luce

Photo 105550084 / Coat Many Colors © Bohuslav Jelen | Dreamstime.com

 

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It’s An Opportunity, Not a Setback!

Can you imagine? David, just a shepherd boy, singing and playing his instrument while watching his father’s sheep. When out of the corner of his eye, he sees a lion jump from his hidden position to attack the sheep. By himself, David jumped and ran toward the lion, killing him and saving the sheep.

Now, can you imagine that instead of celebrating his great victory, David instead sits down to say, “Why God? Why did you allow that lion to attack us? I’m no good at this. This is too hard. I guess I shouldn’t be a shepherd. You must not want me to do this.”

Let’s take it even further. David is again worshipping the Lord and watching the sheep graze when out of the shadow comes a bear that is running full force straight at them. Alone again, David kills the bear and saves himself and the sheep.

David could have thought, “Why does this keep happening. I’ve already had to fight a battle. God must not be with me. What am I doing wrong? Why do I always have problems?”

When faced with another problem or another battle, the temptation is to take the victim mentality even if you’ve won the previous battles and think you have a setback. If your self-talk sounds something like, “Just when things were going good, this had to happen.” Or, “Why does this always happen to me?” Then you’ve got to shake yourself loose from the grip of self-pity.

Like David, your past battles had a purpose. They worked for you to enlarge you. The fight you are facing right now is not a setback. It is an opportunity. You can take even more territory. God has more for you!

You can be like David doing a task that seems menial and mundane. You may think this is all there is. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s not. God has opened an opportunity to enlarge you. But taking territory and enlarging is a battle. Anyone who has tried to grow a company understands that enlarging is hard work. It’s an uphill battle with many obstacles. And at every place of enlargement comes a more significant, more intimidating struggle.

David was just delivering bread and cheese when he heard Goliath vomiting his threats and mockings. At that moment, David could have thought, “not again…,” “not another fight.” I’ve already had to deal with a lion and a bear. What more does God want from me?” Thank God he didn’t think those things. Instead, he said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who defies the armies of the living God?” After finding out the reward, David’s immediate reaction was to run toward the battle. Ours should be the same.

Revelation 1:6 says we are kings and priests unto God. We are overcomers, not down and outers. We advance the kingdom of God and take territory. Like David, we don’t shrink back. (Hebrews 10:38) That day, David was positioned for the palace. The previous battles prepared him for this giant. Just like before, David took that giant down and cut his head off. And saints, so can we!

We are not living in a setback moment. It’s time to advance. It’s time to take new and larger territory and slay our giants! Don’t be intimidated. Don’t listen to the lies and tricks of the enemy. Think from the proper perspective. Take every negative and defeatest thought captive. Deny fear any entrance and march forward in faith. Your victory will position you for your greater purpose and will bring deliverance to you and all those around you.

Jaime Luce

Photo 31570586 © Shutter999 | Dreamstime.com
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Misinformation

We’ve all jumped to conclusions. We see something, hear something, or imagine something because we saw nothing and heard nothing. Relying on senses alone will lead to a conclusion that is just as imagined.

After selling Joseph to traders, Jacob’s sons brought Joseph’s coat that was shredded and dipped in blood to their father. They simply asked, is this your son’s coat? Immediately Jacob’s mind took him to the worst-case scenario. He declared that Joseph had certainly been attacked by wild animals and was undoubtedly dead.

Satan uses this method with precision. We watch professional propagandists while ignoring missing facts. News stations and social media platforms hurl accusations as “misinformation” but with no investigation. Though these sources are no longer trustworthy, countless conclusions are made. Finding truth means uncovering all pertinent questions and answers, but the enemy keeps the most valuable information hidden, simply showing us a shredded bloody coat.

Saints, we’ve got to quit falling for this tactic. We don’t have to settle for the devil’s lies. We don’t have to fear the devil or the plans he has for us. We are overcomers. We overcome sin. We overcome death. We overcome oppression. We overcome poverty. We overcome sickness and disease. We overcome fear. I could go on and on. Our God is not mocked. When we know the truth, we are free indeed. Instead of jumping to conclusions, we must say by the Spirit, “and in conclusion.” We need to be declaring it to ourselves and each other. The conclusion is that God has already defeated the enemy. He has pronounced his punishment and declared our victory.

Go to the Word of God. Declare His promises over your life. Ignore the “false evidence” that the devil is waving at you with an “It is written.” Don’t agree with your enemy. Instead, speak life and promise. God’s word is the final say on the matter. Psalm 138:2 “I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
There is no higher truth than God’s word. Declare truth today and receive your victory!

Jaime Luce

Photo 74800484 / Deception © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com

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Surviving The Waiting Season

Hang on, saints! God is faithful. And He is going to see to it that the promise He made you comes to pass. Staying encouraged in the waiting season is key. But to do that, we need to look at the first promise. In that promise, we see three important factors about promises.

God told Noah to build an ark of safety for the coming flood. He was asked to prepare for something that no one had ever experienced before. Everything about this call would sound crazy to anyone who heard it. He would be mocked and ridiculed for years. Yet despite public opinion, Noah obeyed and survived a flood that destroyed everyone else.

After a year on that boat, God told Noah to leave the ark of safety. Noah’s first act once off the boat was to build an altar and make a sacrifice to the Lord. The scripture says that the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and promised that he would never again flood the earth and that as long as the earth endures, there will be seed, time, and harvest. It was a tremendous promise that their future would be secure and blessed.

Then, to give Noah a continual reminder, God placed a rainbow in the clouds as a symbol of His promise. So in every time of rain, Noah wouldn’t need to fear. He knew where to fix his gaze. He could look up and see God’s promise.

The first point in this promise is that it would not only affect Noah. Its reach still covers us today. When God gives us a promise, it endures. Our God is eternal, so His gifts are eternal. Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” No matter how much time has passed, God hasn’t changed His mind about you. The promise stands, and it will bless you and those after you.

Second is the necessary element of time. God said there would be seed, time, and harvest. The promise is the seed. But after you receive the seed, there will be time. How much time? The right amount of time. God’s perfect plan has a perfect time. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by faith.” Habakkuk 2:3-4 (NKJV) If you remember that time is part of the promise, you won’t be so discouraged in the waiting.

The third element of this promise is perspective. God put the promise in the sky. For Noah to see it, he would need to lookup. Luke 21:28 (KJV) “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” This scripture reminds us that even when we face the chaos of a fallen world, we can look up and know God is faithful to His word. Just as Noah was safe on the ark, God will keep you.

Your promise is for an appointed time. Look up. It will come to pass.

Jaime Luce

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If You’re Not Careful, It Will Be To Late

For those who are awake, not woke, but awake, we share a feeling of urgency. Some, because of how uncomfortable the state, ignore it while others are driven by it. Still, others feel trapped and don’t know what to do with it.

The scriptures always contain the answers. If we want wisdom, if we want to know what to do and make the fewest mistakes possible, we must be people of the Word. In what sounds like sadness, or a realization that comes late, Moses prays this prayer recorded in Psalms 90:12. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”

Doesn’t everyone want to know what to do? Yet, there is a second and equally powerful need. To know when to do it. Former chairman of Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, once said, “Even the correct decision is wrong when it was taken too late.” 

We must understand that time is the only commodity that you can’t get back. It’s more powerful than money because you can’t get more. You only have what you have. The body of Christ must act now. Whatever you’re planning to do for God must be done now. Whatever witness you are going to be, be it now. Whomever you are going to reach, reach them now.

To us as a country. We must take action now. There is no more time. It isn’t enough to know what must be done. We must do it now, or it will be too late. We know what wisdom tells us, so let us not be fools. Whatever happens, will be because of what we did or did not do.

Dt. 31:7 “Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.”

Our children will inherit what we cause them to inherit. The burden lies with us. Don’t wait any longer. Be strong. Take courage. Take action. Pursue an inheritance of great value and help them lay hold of it before time runs out.

Jaime Luce

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Keep Digging!

“We’ve struck water!” they exclaimed. Isaac’s servants had just found freshwater. While still excited about the discovery, the people in the next town came demanding that it belonged to them, though they themselves did not dig the well. Instead of wasting time in senseless arguments, Isaac sends his men to another location to begin digging there.

They again have great success and find water, yet the same argumentative people come to claim it. Refusing to give up, Isaac moves a third time to a different location where his men are again successful. This time, without dispute.

We will all have to dig wells on our journey. A well not only represents the obvious of water for life, livestock, and crop growth, but it also speaks of inheritance and blessing.

Abraham, Isaac’s father, was very wealthy. He had passed all that he owned to his son Isaac. In order to carry that kind of blessing, he needed wells to sustain that blessing. Digging wells meant making room for more blessing because they were an identifier. It marked land, ownership, and independence. If you had your own wells, you didn’t rely on those around you for sustenance. Isaac’s wells meant it was God alone who provided for his needs, as was the case with his father.

If you want to be blessed, you need wells, but know that there will be attacks from the enemy to rob you of your wells. The enemy wants you bound to his demands and to keep you from freedom. In America, we face this threat even now. Our government wants to control our wells. Businesses everywhere are wanting to hire, but people have decided to receive their water from others wells. It affects, economy, freedom, and prosperity.

I encourage you today to keep digging! Don’t quit! Dig a well of prayer and let the Lord lead you to a place of freedom and a well of no dispute. Don’t drink from someone else’s well. Dig your own and don’t waste time. There is a well for you. There is a place of refreshing and provision, and God has an inheritance and blessing for you that no one can take from you. He is our provision and sustainer. His authority is unparalleled and undisputed. And God will give you good success.

Keep digging!

Jaime Luce

Jaimeluce.com

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Nothing Can Stand Against You!

To you who have decided, to you who make God’s business your business and aren’t content to simply sit in salvation, you will be victorious! Have no fear. God has already planned your enemy’s defeat!

There is a special blessing that comes on those who walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. He that foreknew you predestined you. He knew you would choose Him. He knew that you would make it your business to follow hard after His heart, so He justified you and glorified you for His purpose, the very purpose He chose and planned for you. So don’t worry. He is the one who made the plan. And since you want His plan and follow His lead, He will see to it that you get there and accomplish all that He placed in your heart.

V.31-33 “What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with him so freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.”

“No weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

Jaime Luce

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3 Keys To A Fear Free Life

You can only fear not when you know you have nothing to fear. Over and over again, Jesus told people not to fear. Whether in a storm or facing persecution, and even when gripped by sickness or death, Jesus’ first words of instruction were not to fear. He even dared to ask the disciples who thought they were going to die, “why are you so fearful?” Mark 4:40 (KJV) He told them this because He knew who He was and what He planned to do. Could it be that simple? According to Jesus, yes. 

Key #1. Believe. As believers, we really do believe that Jesus is the Son of God. That according to Ephesians 1:20-23, Jesus, whom the Father raised from the dead, is now sitting at His right hand in heavenly places, far above “all” principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. That covers everyone and everything, including governments.

Key #2. Know the one in whom you believe. As stated above, Jesus knew who He was. He knew that all authority in heaven and earth was given to him. All things are subject to him, and in fact, all things are under his feet (Ephesians 1:22)

Key #3. Know God’s plan for you. If God before you, who can be against you? Romans 8:31. For the believer, it’s settled. They know that according to Ephesians 2:5-6, “Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So we are sitting “far above all” with Christ. And as his body, all things are then under our feet. You have authority over every situation. Don’t turn loose of your faith. God has a good plan for you. (Jeremiah 29:11) Read the book. He doesn’t want you sick. God didn’t give that to you. God wants to prosper you. He didn’t take that from you. God has a future for you. He hasn’t changed His mind.

 If you don’t know Him, get to know Him by reading His Word. You can know what He wants, likes, and expects. You can know what He blesses and what he curses. He isn’t hiding. In fact, He is knocking at the door of your heart right now. Just open it. If you have repented of your sin and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, then understand that you are hidden in Christ. And no matter what you are passing through, as a believer, you are just passing through.

Believers believe. So if you must, say this out loud and remind yourself, “I am a believer. I do not doubt.” Say it again and again. Say it until it becomes a part of you, and watch how fear runs away.

 

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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