In order to do great things for the Lord we must endure very painful seasons which will give us experience in walking in others shoes and stretch us to prepare us for doing far greater things then we would be able to do had we avoided all pain.  So even though no one wants to get hurt, betrayed, abused, persecuted, laughed at, mocked, lied about, discarded….it allows us to relate to many more people in the world and once we have healed (through forgiving people who hurt us, humbling ourselves from pride and repenting for our own sin) we are able to truly help others to get to their healing and deliverance as well.  Without the pain and scars we would not be able to be used as impactfully for the Lord.  So the Lord will take you into seasons of pain and despair in order to have you come out the other side with an amazing testimony that could help thousands or more. So many people in the Bible who did great things for God had to overcome extreme loneliness, betrayal, accusation, lies and pain.  Think about people like Joseph whose brothers wanted to kill him as they were…

God loves it when people who are controlled, oppressed and abused eventually overcome those who are controlling, oppressing and abusing them.  When the tables are turned. Time after time in the Bible are stories of God’s people who were being hurt by Satan’s people for a season and it looked like they would be either stopped, shut down or even killed when at the last minute they overcame their enemies and in many cases were elevated in position over them and also promoted into top leadership over an entire nation.  God loves those who have His pure heart who have sacrificed and suffered greatly while doing His will to eventually be repositioned to a place of authority over those who were coming against them. Joseph was sold out by his brothers to become a slave in Egypt who ultimately received favor and got promoted over the household of Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials.  Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him sexually but he did what was right in the Lord’s eyes and ran from her.  She then lied to her husband Potiphar about Joseph to blame him. Potiphar then put him in jail for over 2 years.  Things looked pretty dark…

I have been amazed at how many people are shocked to having their eyes opened to learn the truth of just how much evil and corruptness there is in the world as it is now being exposed more and more.  When people call themselves “Christian” yet are abusive, controlling, lying, sexually perverse, and worse whenever they leave the presence of their church.  We have to look at the actions of people and not their words. The world is expected to be evil but those who are in the church who call themselves Christian yet are verbally abusive to their spouse, yell at their children, get drunk, behave sexually impure, live immorally, cuss, and lie every day. People are finally waking up to learn that the liberal news sources that they have been watching their whole lives (CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, even at times FOX) are lying to us and have been for years…it’s just been that during the last year it has gotten worse and much worse.  The enemy in the people who work for them has a very evil agenda in trying to control and manipulate them to hating things that are good and trying to portray things…

The bible says that we will face storms in life and have situations that will be sad and hard to walk through. Some of the storms will be created by other people who will come against us and cause us pain and tears. Often they come from people who we love. Some of the storms we create for ourselves from the decisions that we choose to make. John 16:33 New King James Version (NKJV) 33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” The enemy often  speaks into our thoughts to cause us to live in fear as to what could possibly happen to us if we choose to do something or don't do something. FEAR is often known as False Evidence Appearing Real. Then when bad things actually do happen to us the enemy will try to speak into our thoughts to remind us of all the injustices that others have done to us so we will have unforgiveness and bitterness in our hearts, blaming us for our own bad decisions, and trying to condemn us…

Have you ever considered what you say to your children can haunt them the rest of their lives if you speak negative words of death over them?  Conversely, if you speak positive words of encouragement and life that they will blossom like a flower that receives sunshine and water and will see blessings in their lives.  How often do you think and take inventory of exactly how you speak to and treat your own children?   Those who spoke negatively every day to their children as they were growing up will see children who are largely affected in a negative way for the rest of their lives.  Unfortunately the parents will then blame their children and speak out words of condemnation over them causing a huge chasm to expand throughout their lifetimes between them.  Their children will naturally distance themselves from their parents - wanting to stop the onslaught of death words over them.  Then often the parents will blame shift the reasons that their children want nothing to do with them onto their victimized children causing their children to feel hurt deeply and rarely wanting to ever speak to them as their parents need to own their abuse over…

There was a famous song in the 1980's by the group Journey titled "Don't Stop Believin' " which has a lot of spiritual validity when it comes to not looking on what you can see but to continue to believe for what you cannot see to eventually manifest in the here and now.  James 1:12 NIV states "Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." James continues the thought that he began in verse 2 where he called on believes to call hard times as joyful things.  Why?  Because our faith only strengthens when we endure trials and overcome them.  When we trust the Lord through breaking through tough experiences, then we grow in our maturity in Christ to trust Him due to each trial that we have overcome.  We essentially become more like Christ with each and every tribulation that we get through.  It is a choice to continue to trust God in the midst of the trial and then the Lord brings more blessing.  Our circumstances may be very challenging  but God is on our…