TIME TO USE YOUR AUTHORITY

By Joseph Prince – Posted April 01, 2017

Exodus 14:15-16

And the Lord said to Moses,”Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. 16 But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it…

The problem with the body of Christ today is not that we are not praying. We are praying. But many of us are praying desperate prayers. We are praying, “God, help…God, please…God, do something about my problem!”

If you are smiling a little by now, most likely, you know about such prayers and might have prayed a couple yourself. My friend, God does not want you to pray pleading prayers all the time. He wants you to use the authority He has given you to pray powerful prayers, to boldly command and to “stretch out your hand” and see miracles happen.

When Moses stood before the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit, the Bible tells us that he cried out to God. But God told him, “Why do you cry to Me?”

There is a time for you to cry out to God and there is a time for you to use your authority. God told Moses, “Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.”

The “rod” you have today is the name of Jesus. As you command in Jesus’ name, your “sea” will open and you will go on dry ground through the midst of your problem.

Do you realize that Jesus did not say, “Go and pray for the sick”? He said, “Go and heal the sick.” (Matthew 10:8) So stop pleading and asking all the time, and start using the authority you have in Christ.

Jesus told the church, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18–19) My friend, God wants you to go and use the authority that He has given you. And as you go, miracles will flow!

Thought For The Day

When you start using the authority you have in Christ, miracles will flow.

Quick to Forgive

By Joyce Meyer - Posted April 01, 2017

And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted…forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.
—Ephesians 4:32

The Bible teaches us to forgive “readily and freely.” That is God’s standard for us, no matter how we feel about it. We are to be quick to forgive. 

According to 1 Peter 5:5, we can clothe ourselves with the character of Jesus Christ, meaning that we can choose to be long-suffering, patient, not easily offended, slow to anger, quick to forgive, and filled with mercy. My definition of “mercy” is to look beyond what is done to me that hurts and discover the reason why it was done. Many times people do things even they don’t understand themselves, but there is always a reason why people behave as they do. Perhaps they are hurting and in their own pain they don’t even realize they are hurting someone else. 

God forgives! We are to be merciful and forgiving, just as God in Christ forgives us our wrongdoing. He not only sees what we do that is wrong, but He understands why we did it, and is merciful and long-suffering. The choice to forgive others is ours. God will not force anyone to do it. Even if you don’t understand it, believe that God’s way is the best. It works. He can take what Satan meant to destroy you and turn it for your good. 

We are to forgive in order to keep Satan from getting the advantage over us. 

The Reward is Set in Place

By Joel Osteen – Posted April 01, 2017

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:

You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart;
(Jeremiah 29:13, NASB)

TODAY'S WORD:

Have you ever thought about the fact that a reward is put into place before anyone ever claims it? Right now, there are rewards for certain fugitives on the loose. That money is already in a fund just waiting for someone to step up and claim it. All a person has to do is find the fugitive, and the money will be released. In the same way, God has a reward that has already been set in place for you and me, too. It’s just waiting to be released. But, there are conditions to that reward as well. God says, “If you will just seek Me, I will give you the reward. If you will just make an effort to please Me, if you will just get up in the morning and thank Me, if you will just read the scripture, I’ll pour out My blessing.” You may not understand it all, but God says, “That’s okay. I will give you the reward because your heart is in the right place, and you are making the effort. 

Today, there is nothing more important that seeking God in all your ways. When you go about your day, keep Him on your mind. Talk to Him and ask for His direction. Seek Him because you will find Him and find peace, abundance, joy and victory all the days of your life! 

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Father God, thank You for ordering my steps and pouring out Your blessing on me. I choose to put You first place in everything I do. I honor You and thank You for Your goodness and faithfulness in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Captured by Grace: Never-Ending Grace

By DR. David Jeremiah – Posted April 01, 2017

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.
Psalm 145:18

Some numbers and ideas are hard to fathom. Take the amount of water that spills over Niagara Falls every second of every day of every year. Approximately 85,000 cubic feet of water flows over the falls every second. Such a number is hard to grasp; see if this helps: Enough water flows over Niagara Falls in one second to fill 5.3 average-sized houses every second. Right now, count off five seconds—more than 25 houses could have been filled with water. And it never stops.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 119:151

That’s a lot—and it’s an inadequate illustration of something else that never stops: the grace of God. There is more grace flowing from God—right this second—than water flowing over Niagara Falls. We know grace can’t be measured, but it’s a way of saying that God’s grace is always there. There is more than we know, more than we need, and more than we can imagine. God is, and God does, “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). And that includes His grace.

Never believe that you have sinned or strayed too far. God’s grace is greater than all our sin (Romans 5:20). God’s grace is abundant and ever-present for all who call on Him.

It is possible to fall in grace, but not to fall from grace. 
John Blanchard