Thought for Today: Always Fighting

There is a lie that has been placed in the church by a religious spirit. This spirit has creeped into the minds and hearts of many of God’s children and has convinced them that there is no longer a fight because they are a child of God. Many are deceived and looking down on themselves because they are fighting this or fighting that. 

And religion is whispering in your ear that if you have to fight all the time then something is wrong with you. And as you listen to the lie you begin to believe the lie that you are not right with God because you find yourself fighting all the time. 

Listen, the devil will not waste his time on someone that is not a threat to his kingdom. Jesus said it this way, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25).

I know this sounds crazy, but you should be praising God that the enemy of your soul is constantly attempting to fight you. That means you don’t belong to the enemy, you belong to God.  And there is something in you that agitates the kingdom of darkness. For the word of God says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them BECAUSE GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN YOU THAN he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Because you are a child of God, there will always be something or someone looking to fight you. For the word of God says, “Be sober, be vigilant because the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Because you are a child of light, there are many ways the enemy will try to fight you to put your light out. 

The enemy is hoping to catch you off guard, that’s why the word of God says to be sober, be vigilant. As a child of God, you have no time to get ready for the attacks of the enemy, you have to stay ready. You may be asking, “But Pastor Erick, what do I do when the attacks come out of nowhere?” You do the last thing the enemy would expect you to do, YOU PRAISE GOD for the attacks. 

You are probably thinking, “But that don’t make no sense.” That’s because you are thinking in the natural. The word of God says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). So when the enemy comes out of nowhere to catch you off guard, you can shake them up simply by praising God at their attacks. 

This is what the word of God meant in James 1:2, “My brethren/sister count it all joy when ye fall into divers’ temptations.” You see, when you begin to praise God because of the attacks, when you begin to praise God in the midst of the attacks, The Holy Spirit of God arises from the throne of your heart and sits right there in the midst of your praise, as seen in Psalm 22:3, “But thou art Holy O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel.”

“Okay, Pastor Erick, what is praising God in the middle of an attack going to do for me?” Here, let me show you what praising God in the midst of an attack will do. The word of God says it this way, “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away as wax melteth before the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad let them rejoice before God ye let them exceedingly rejoice” (Psalm 68:1-3).

As a child of God, you will either be fighting the world, your flesh, or the devil all the time. Don’t get ready for a fight, you need to stay ready for a fight. And the way a child of God stays ready is by always being ready to praise God in the good, the bad, and the ugly, simply because no matter what happens you know that, with God, you can’t lose. 

For it is written, “By this I know that thou favourest me, BECAUSE MINE ENEMY DOTH NOT TRIUMPH OVER ME” (Psalm 41:11).

If you are a child of the most-high God you should always anticipate that your enemy will try to catch you off guard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, if you stay ready with a praise for God in the good, the bad, and the ugly you will walk (live your life) in victory every single day. Praise God today, no matter what, and watch God show up and show out.

Thought for Today: Just Say What You Feel

One of the ways the enemy lures people out of the will of God is to convince them to just say whatever they feel. Don’t think about it, don’t ponder it, don’t try to say the right words, just say what you feel. By just saying what you feel right then and right there you are feeding the devil, and what you feed is what will grow. 

“How am I feeding the devil by just saying what I feel, Pastor Erick? That does not make any sense.” According to the word of God, when God created man He created man from dust, as found in Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” You are a spirit, you live in a body, and you have a soul. Your spirit man is from God, your soul is your decision-making ability, and you live in a natural body, made from dust. 

Now I want you to look at this, Genesis 3:14, “And the LORD GOD said unto the serpent, because thou has done this (lured humanity out of the will of God to sin) thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the filed upon thy belly shalt thou go (listen to this) AND DUST SHALT THOU EAT ALL THE DAYS OF THY LIFE.” You are made from dust, and the word of God says dust shall the serpent feed on all the days of its life. The devil feeds on your natural man. So, if the enemy can get you to just say what you feel, he feeds on that and the more you feed anything the bigger it will get. Have you ever noticed that whenever you just say what you feel in some fashion or some form all hell breaks out, even if what you said is true?

As a child of God, you cannot live your life by just saying what you feel. The word of God says it this way, “This I say then Walk (live your life) in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (you will not just do what you feel like doing, or saying what you feel like saying). For the flesh (feelings and or emotions) lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye should” (Galatians 5:16).

Just because you know something does not mean that you have to say it simply because you feel like they needed to hear it. For the word of God says, “A prudent man concealeth knowledge but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness” (Proverbs 12:23).

I am trying to show you that the strategies of hell, the world, your flesh, and the devil will always want you to JUST SAY WHAT YOU FEEL because if they can get you to do that, they can get you to speak from your flesh and not from the directions of the Holy Spirit of God that dwells in you. For you listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, speak when He says speak, and say what He tells you to say because it keeps you in the will of God. 

This is what is meant in James 1:19, “Wherefore my beloved brethren let every man/woman be SWIFT TO HEAR, SLOW TO SPEAK AND SLOW TO WRATH; For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God”  If the enemy of your soul can get you to react to your feelings and just say what you feel, it will prevent you from responding to what the Holy Spirit of God tells you to do and say. 

And that’s just what the enemy of your soul wants. They want you to JUST SAY WHAT YOU FEEL right then and right there. I say to you my brother, I say to you my sister, stop and take a deep breath, say this within yourself, or out loud if you have to, “HELP ME HOLY SPIRIT.” Even if you have to be specific, “help me keep my mouth shut Holy Spirit.” This will feed your spirit and not your flesh and this will empower you to stay one with the Holy Spirit of God which will continue to give you a peaceful life in a world that is filled with destruction. 

For it is written, “He/She that keepeth his/her mouth keepeth his/her life but he/she that OPENETH WIDE his/her lips shall have destruction” (Proverbs 13:3).

I know you want to tell them how you feel right now, but take a deep breath and ask the Holy Spirit to help you and keep your peace today.

Be Blessed

Thought for Today: When You Don’t Understand

There is something going on right now in your life and you just DON’T UNDERSTAND. You DON’T UNDERSTAND the what, why, when, where, or who, and it’s pulling you into a dark place.

A place of fear, frustration, anxiety, stress, hopelessness, doubt, unbelief, and most of all it is pulling you into a place where you want to just give up, give in, and quit. And if that is not enough, the enemy of your soul is whispering in your ear, YOU NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT. And you begin to take actions, and make decisions from your flesh (feelings and emotions), not understanding the truth that you are a child of the most-high God. And any time you take action or make any decisions from your flesh (feelings and/or emotions) you are opening the door for the enemy to come right in and do as he pleases in your life.

“The Spirit of God hath made you, and the breath of the Almighty hath given you life” (Job 33:4). You cannot and will not ever get understanding when you operate from your flesh. Let me make it plain, as a child of God you will never get any understanding of what is going on in your life by taking actions, making decisions, or speaking from your feelings or emotions.

You are made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said let us make man (woman) in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over ALL THE EARTH and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

The enemy wants you to gain understanding of what you are going through from your flesh instead of grabbing God’s word and seeing what He says about the situation. This is because of the truth found in 1 Corinthians 2:14, which says, “But the natural man (your flesh) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him/her; neither can he/she know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

You are a spirit, you live in a body, and you have a soul. If you want to understand the what, when and why of the matter, grab the word of God and see what God says about the situation you are in. Right now I hear the devil whispering in your ear “It’s easy for Pastor Erick to say that, he knows the Word. You don’t know the Word like he does.” I’m telling you, use Google and type in “What does the Bible say about this? What does the Bible say about that?” If you don’t know where a subject is in the Bible, Google it. Google what the Word says about what you are going through.

The reason why the enemy doesn’t want you to know what the Word of God says about the situation you are in is because of what Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth (that is made alive) the flesh profiteth nothing; THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU THEY ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE.”

The Word of God says “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). If you really want to understand what’s going on in your life right now, stop trying to figure things out in your flesh and grab the Word of God. His Word will give you power, His Word will give you wisdom, His Word will give you guidance, His Word will give you protection, His Word will give you provision

The last thing the world, your flesh and the devil wants you to do is grab the Word of God to get spiritual understanding of what God is doing for your life. Because His Word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path (Psalm 119:105).

Don’t get me wrong, there are many ways that God can speak to you, but if you are not hearing His voice, if He has not given you any directions about what is going on and you just DON’T UNDERSTAND what is going on, hear me clearly, GRAB YOUR BIBLE, FIND OUT WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT THE MATTER.