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| Today |  | December 20 - December 26 2026 |
Dec20
The Curse That Doesn’t Stick
Num 22:12 | |
| 12 | And God said to Balaam, "You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed." NKJV If you have been to some of the island nations of the Caribbean, you will have no doubt seem some of the dark powers that some there try to invoke. People try to curse someone who has not treated them well by a spiritual power. You can know that wishing to harm someone who has wronged you is not the way of the Kingdom of Yahweh. The Kingdom is different. Believers are blessed. That blessing we see in the Word is spiritual, physical, financial and much more. Believers are blessed because they have made the choice to put God and His Kingdom first everyday. Matthew 6:33 is a key for everyday life saying, |
| 33 | But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. NKJV In the book of Numbers, we see the story of a prophet of God named Balaam. A rival King, Balak, was threatened by the prosperity and growth of the people of Abraham in Israel (the Israelites) as they were taking their promised land. Balak and his people were trying to hire Balaam to curse the people of Israel. This is a famous part of the Bible because it is the only place in the Bible that we hear of an animal speaking out. It is the passage with the famous talking donkey. This would have never happened had Balaam followed the initial direction he got when He asked Yahweh about Balak’s request. We that in Numbers 22:13 |
| 13 | So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, "Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you." NKJV God told Balaam not even to waste his time with Balak and his people because God’s people were blessed. Balaam was an Edomite. He was from the same lines as Israel. He was a man of God, but due to the bribes and enticements of Balak he apparently went away from God for the love of things. Balaam knew God, he knew how to talk with God, but he had a weakness. He wanted the silver, gold, and material things that Balak could provide if only Balaam would curse God’s chosen people (in the New Testament, that includes you and I!). The story of Balaam shows us how we can know God’s perfect will for our lives, but how follow the plans of our own hearts and get in trouble. God allows what you allow, and you will have to pay the price when you don’t seek His Kingdom first because you can get hurt spiritually and even physically when you get away from His Word which is His will. If you are a follower of Yashua (Jesus), you are a part of His Kingdom. No one can curse, hex, condemn or do anything that will have power over you. But you’ve got to stay in His Word. Many people talk about not knowing God’s will, but His will is His Word. If you know the Bible and treasure it daily, you are going to be exceeding successful. After all, that was the advice given to Joshua, that we should constantly remind ourselves of. |
Josh 1:8-9 | |
| 8 | This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." NKJV You are blessed because you know whom you believe. Now go and know! |
Dec21
Supporting The Builders
John 13:20 | |
| 20 | Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me." NKJV As believers, we need to be open to other believers. That doesn’t mean we always have to believe what they are believing. I have traveled to many cities around the US and Asia. I have even been to a few in Europe. Every city I have been to I have had to make an effort to find churches that are filled with Committed Christians and avoid those that a occupied by Cultural Christians. When you are around committed Christians, you can immediately blend in because we are all part of the same Kingdom and you’ll know it. One night I finished a day of business meetings in New Jersey, I had scoped out the churches in the area the day before and happened to drive by one that looked good earlier in the week. When I walked in I felt so at home. It was a Wednesday night worship with people from places all over the world represented. I’ll never forget that worship, because is was only three songs for 45 minutes and the power and presence of Yahweh was there mightily. There is unity in like faith that is strong. However that does not mean that we should just blow off people because they don’t believe exactly like us. We should definitely avoid people who are in apostasy (that teach things that are unbiblical. Remember every point should be established by 2-3 scriptures, or ‘witnesses’ as Jesus called it, to be accepted by you). But in other cases, people may not worship like us, they may not study the Bible like us, or even act like us but we should still love them. In Luke 9:48 King Jesus says, |
| 48 | and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great." NKJV There is something about receiving believers in love. And evidently being receptive was important to our Savior and God Jesus. Make a decision not to criticize brothers and sisters in Christ. Just because you do not agree with someone doesn’t mean you should be negative. Every person, every ministry, every church, and every family is going to be known by the fruit of their lives. In general, we should let God be the judge of what they are doing and we should focus on loving when we are around these people or talking about them. At the same time, as you read John 13:20 the Holy Spirit shows us another thing from Jesus’ words here. We should be receptive to evangelists and ministers coming to edify in our churches. They are here to build. We are all here to build not to destroy. Colosians 2:6-7 shows how we are to build and be established in the faith through teaching saying, |
| 6 | As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. NKJV Build up believers, especially those leaders who are bringing people to Jesus. Tithe to your local church where you are getting fed spiritually, but don’t let it stop there. Give offerings to evangelists, prophets, teachers and others who are working in the mission fields to share the Kingdom with other worlds. I love to see the fruit of the missionaries in Africa, Asia, and the US and how they are changing their worlds by sharing Jesus. Don’t settle for the way things are. Share the love and build up people around you towards Yahweh. |
Dec22
The Faith Force 3 X 1
Mark 11:23 | |
| 23 | For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. NKJV One day as I was researching for my message on the internet I came across a website written by someone, I did not know, saying a certain man of God we knew was a cult leader. One of the points that he made for making this harsh judgment was the fact that he heard a message where this man of God said “Faith is a force”. Although, we are not sure how describing faith as a force while you are preaching could be considered evil, it certainly get’s you thinking. The Lord Jesus taught a lot on speaking, acting, and saying. Mark 11:23 is a must know scripture for every believer to really understand. Why? It clearly explains how saying and believing are an essential to the committed Christian. Faith is not blind, saying and believing are faith. When you repent and turn to Jesus, you are not righteous at the time, by faith you say, and you become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 11:1 tells us faith is not what we have, it is what we expect. Hallelujah! Evidently faith must be important in the Kingdom because you can’t please God without it according to Hebrews 11:6, |
| 6 | But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. NKJV However when you go back to Mark 11, there is something very key that you can find as you think on that scripture. Put your two hands out, on your right hand count every time that scripture says ‘say’. At the same time, on your left hand, count every time the Word there says ‘believe’. |
| 23 | For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. NKJV Count it up. In the New King James Version, we read 3 times more about saying than we hear about believing. Believing is important, but you have to say 3 times more when you are believing for something. It is true for anything. When you need to forgive someone, then you are going to need to say it, and say it, and say it. Then your believing is going to come in line with your saying. When you want a child to grow up in God’s ways you need to say it 3 times more than you are thinking about believing that faith statement. Saying things like, “My children are raised in the ways of the Lord”, “I am a great parent because I have the love and wisdom of God for my children” and “The angel of the Lord surrounds and protects my children from all harm,” are just a few things you can speak out to confirm your beliefs. When you start saying it, your believing gets in line with God’s Word, then it starts to come to pass. As you think about what you are believing God for today, start talking about it. Put your sayings in line with what you are believing for. You can’t always control the things around you, but you always control one thing in your life: You can always control what you say. Faith will become a force in your life when you are filled with His power and when you are believing and confirming those beliefs by speaking them out. The faith force 3X1. |
Dec23
Get Up And Out
Mark 10:50 | |
| 50 | And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. NKJV If you want to see things happen in your life, you must believe God and the mighty Name of Jesus. You have to be ready to grab your miracle. You can’t just hope you’ll be healed, get yourself to a prayer meeting where a man or woman of God who has an anointing can pray over you. Don’t just sit there. Don’t be waiting for things to come to you in life. Go to where you want things to happen. A leadership trainer once said, “Leadership is 20% given and 80% taken”. That means in the world, if you stand up and act like you are in control, there is a good chance that people will follow you. It is a bit different for spiritual leaders, as we expect apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (what Bible teachers call the 5 fold ministry) to be seeking God and hearing His voice so that they can lead us. However, we need to be constantly checking the Word of God for what they are teaching to make sure they are preaching the Word and not going off into error. Believers should not be blindly following. They should be actively supporting the church of God and know what is going on. This is why we like to story of Mark 10. King Jesus was walking in the city of Jericho. People knew that He was a leader and had incredible authority just from the way He taught. They followed him and were always crowded around Him. There was great interest in Jesus. Bartimaeus, a man who was blind had heard about Jesus coming down the street. As Jesus was passing by, Bartimaeus began to holler out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jeremiah prophecies in 33:3, |
| 3 | 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' NKJV When you call on God, He is going to answer. Bartimaeus called on Jesus and we can see he was filled with faith knowing something was going to happened. In Mark 10:50 it says Bartimaeus ‘rose up’ when Jesus called for Him. Another version says he ‘jumped up’. That means that he called, the Lord Jesus answered, and he jumped up ready to act even though he was blind. On that day, Bartimaeus received his sight because his mind was open and he was believing. His believing was demonstrated by his faith. God moves in the lives of those who step out. With faith, the first step is always yours, not God’s. As you think about your future, start thinking about how to engage your faith. Remember believing is one thing, but you have to put action to your faith. You have to forget about your situation, and like Bartimaeus, throw off those old clothes, those worries, those fears and jump up and go to God. In the end, Jesus will say the same thing to you that he said to so many others. |
Mark 10:52 | |
| 52 | Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. NKJV Engage your faith. Throw off whatever is covering you and holding you back. When you do it, your faith in Him and His world is going to change your situation. |
Dec24
Adventures In The Holy Spirit
Acts 4:29-30 | |
| 29 | Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 30 by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." NKJV When you are young, you see everything as perfect. When you get old, you have to be careful that you don’t look at everything as imperfect, otherwise you could join the cranky old person club. Our home country is the Kingdom of Heaven, but the country of our birth has been considered a ‘Christian’ nation as it was originally founded by believers for believers. Working in the ministry abroad we were jealous of the the volumes of people going to churches and proclaiming to be Christians in that country. After living full-time in Asia, we began to travel in our ministry and had the opportunity to visit churches in our birthcountry. We discovered that things were not as healthy spiritually as we had thought. The main thing missing is the Holy Spirit. Many churches are unaware of the power and baptism of the Holy Spirit that King Jesus said we should be filled with. Just as a meal cooked can go cold if not kept warm, so a spiritual infilling of the Holy Spirit can go cold if we don’t fan the fire. We must not allow ourselves to become Cultural Christians or people professing to be followers of Jesus but who don’t know the power of God in our daily lives. Going to a place to hear a lecture is not what Jesus had in mind when he talked about building His church. In the last part of Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, |
| 18 | ...I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. NKJV Jesus is going to build His church, but not every church is filled with Committed Christians. Tradition and ritual will rob people of the power that God wants working in their lives. Tradition and ritual will usually reduce a church to a discussion on philosophy and doctrines. Just words... That is not the plan of the Kingdom. 1 Cor 4:20 says, |
| 20 | For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. NKJV Power is the display of God’s signs, wonders, and miracles in the lives of the believers. When people see God’s Kingdom working in your live, they are going to be drawn in themselves. The early church knew that as we see in Acts 4:29-30. When they got resistance from the unbelievers they didn’t pray for better teaching, they prayed for His power. Then what happened? Reading on Acts 4:31 we see, |
| 31 | And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. NKJV We must not settle for the easy. There is power in the Holy Spirit that will shake things where you are at. We must not settle for just words, doctrine, tradition or rituals, our faith may die. We must be seeking the hand (His works) and face (His presence) of God every day so that we are spiritually hot. The response here to their prayer was the place was physically shaken and they became bold from that sign. Don’t settle for words in your spiritual life. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to operate in your life daily as you meet people, pray for needs of others, and go about your daily business. Makes you life a faith adventure every day by the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit with signs following just like the first believers. |
Dec25
Memorials Over Monuments
Prov 10:7 | |
| 7 | The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot. NKJV Many people are looking to become rich and famous. People don’t want to be forgotten about when they leave their bodies and their spirits are united in heaven with God, or separately from Him eternally if they don’t know Him. On a visit to a famous museum, I got the chance to see the mummy of an Egyptian woman. Her body had been buried in a lavish grave inside a famous pyramid in Egypt. However, we did not know her. The people of that time did because the tomb she was placed in was raided multiple times with most of the treasures disappearing with time. In the 1600s in India, there is a huge building built as a memorial to the third wife of a local king. It is a striking building, but yet most of the world do not even know her name. People of great resources may or may not have left a mark of good on the earth. In many cases, they may succeeded financially in life but Proverbs tells us riches are fleeting. They have not succeed spiritually. If you are a believer of faith you are different from the unbeliever and even those who do not operate in the faith (that we must have to please God). It doesn’t matter how big a grave site you build, how big a monument you build to yourself, how big of organization you build. What matters is what you did spiritually. Mark 14:9 the Lord Jesus talks about an act that will never be forgotten. |
| 9 | Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." NKJV In chapter 14 of Mark, we read about Jesus being at the house of Simon the Leper. Clearly Jesus had healed Simon because if you were leprous you were not allowed to be out in the community much less your own house. You were banished to a leper colony. But Jesus was there with His friends and many others at Simon’s house. They were likely eating and talking. People knew that Jesus was a great teacher and He was certainly teaching them great truths of the Kingdom of God. A woman comes into the house of Simon. She’s got an alabaster (mineral based stone container) flask that is filled with very precious and sweet smelling perfume. It was very expensive as it was imported from what is now India. She comes up behind Jesus, breaks the seal of the container and begins to pour it on the Messiah’s head. Jesus said that this act would be memorialized and she would never be forgotten. Now here we are talking about what she did thousands of years later! Why did Jesus say that her actions would be memorialized? The answer is one word, faith. By faith, she took this product worth one years salary, entered into another person’s house and came to the man whom everyone was looking at and made her move to acknowledge the next steps of Jesus, His burial. This woman clearly was led by God because Jesus defended her when people murmured and complained about her after her action. (God never looks approvingly at murmuring and complaining). She was anointing the Lord in preparation for His burial and resurrection. Jesus had told his close friends that He would be killed and would rise from the dead multiple times, but yet it was this outside woman who came in to recognize and honor that upcoming sacrifice. Although, we don’t know the name of this woman she will never be forgotten because of the act of faith she did. There are no buildings, monuments or even graves to her, but we will remember her for being a listener to the voice of the Spirit and acting. We can look forward to meeting her in Heaven. Are you listening to the voice of the Spirit and acting? If you can read this Faith Builder, then you still have time. Jesus is coming back soon so let’s proclaim the love of God to this lost and dying nation. He’ll be the one who makes us truly rich and famous by His wisdom and power that ignites when we step out in faith. This Week’s Reading- Memory Verse James 1:2-4 ヤコブ1:2-4 |
Dec26
The Big Boss
Dan 6:3 | |
| 3 | Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. NKJV Many want to become rich and famous. They somehow hope to leave some mark on the world of some great feat, contribution, or action that everyone will remember. Sadly, those seeking power are the ones who will not truly attain it. It is surely better to select someone who is not after riches, fame, or power to be elevated to influential positions. Those who lust after power are the most likely to abuse it. Two examples of great men of God who put principle over power in world history and the Bible are Joseph and Daniel. These men were statesmen who were not concerned about getting ‘elected’, being people pleasers, or put into some type of office. They were more concerned with honoring Yahweh in everything they did. Colossians 3:23-24 affirms that saying, |
| 23 | And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. NKJV Wherever we live, whatever we do, we should work hard. We should work as if we are working for our Creator. You may work for some man or woman, but we should work as if our real boss is Jesus. Daniel evidently had this principle. He was exiled from his homeland of Israel to Persia (present day Iran). He was taken and considered to be one of the best and brightest people from his nation. Of that 120 individual group, he was judged as being the top 3 men. His reliability, consistency, and leadership was seen by the results in His life. The king of that foreign land were he resided, saw the fruit in his life and was considering putting Daniel over all that he had. Other aspiring people saw that as well and decided they had to eliminate this threat they saw in Daniel. In Daniel 6:4, we see that they could find nothing to condemn him for. Nothing. They began to recognize the source of Daniel’s power. It was the time he had in God’s presence. So they tried to use his relationship with Yahweh against him. They tricked the king into making a law that Daniel would have no choice but to break; worshipping a man over all else or be thrown into a pit full of hungry lions. Daniel did not comply, and therefore had to pay the price. In those days, a king could not rescind his law otherwise it could make his authority look illegitimate. But for some reason, he knew that Daniel’s God would take care of him. He repeated called Daniel’s god “The Living God”. He was right, there are no other living gods. Daniel refused to bow and worship anyone other than the Creator. He was thrown into peril but God took care of him. God shut up the mouths of those lions (Daniel 6:22) so they could not hurt Daniel. They did not hurt him, but hours later they ripped those who conspired against him to shreds. God wants to work in our lives but we so often get out of God’s will we lose track of what he is saying. Remember God’s will is God’s word. Daniel was not trying to get famous but here thousands of years later we can talk about his great victories. Why? Daniel spent time with the Father not just once a day, but He prayed three times each day. Obviously, His relationship with God was more important to him than anything else. He loved to spend time with God. The strength in that relationship showed because he got results, he had divine protection. You want the same? Do the same. Set aside time every day to be with God, to meditate His Word, to sing His praises. You will see results and you will live long to talk about it. That is guaranteed in Psalm 91:16 |
| 16 | With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation." NKJV Know that Jesus is your big boss and anything good earthly boss will also never want you to leave the company. |
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