Mr. Peggy Joyce Ruth

We cannot lose unless we give up. Our words cause us either to give up or to overcome in life. The children of Israel brought back bad words after spying out the Promise Land. It cost them 40 years. How much have our negative words cost us? We must remove evil reports from our vocabulary and put God's report on our tongue.

Are we going to choose the high road or the low road? People ask, "Why would I receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit? I received the Holy Spirit when I was saved." And you did. It is impossible to get saved without the Holy Spirit, but there are two experiences. Jesus breathed on His disciples in John 20:22, and they received the Holy Spirit. It wasn't until Acts 2 that they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the boldness and power that came with it. 

Many people are robbed of God's blessing because they lack an understanding of what God has for them. The law of sowing and reaping governs all other laws. The more we give in any area of life, the more we will increase. The more we hoard back, the more we fall into poverty. If you are only giving to receive, you'll be stuck, but if you give to give again, God will bless you. 

Psalms 14:1 says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God,'" and Romans 1:18-19 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because that which is known about God is evident within them." As believers, we need to be ready to speak the truth to awaken in mankind what they know to be true—that there is a living God. 

God cares about His name, and we should as well. Your name has great meaning and importance attached to it. A good name is to be more desired than great wealth. - Proverbs 22:1.  Our reputation creates the name we pass on to our family and future generations. We should work to ensure our name is a good gift to our family. 

From the story of Naaman: To see a miracle, God must be our source, the Word of God must be our final authority, we must become a joyful giver, we need to expect a miracle, and we must do spiritual warfare to get rid of Satan. 

We must understand the power we have over the enemy. If we don't understand our spiritual authority the devil will beat up on us, but if we know our authority we can send him running. When Jesus walked the earth He prayed all night long and then commanded all day long. We are to do the same with the authority that has been given to us.

The world’s logic seems right because most people operate from it. But when we are led by logic or the facts, it is always the fact we don't know that messes everything up. That is why we must grow in faith and be led by the voice of the Lord. God has seen the end from the beginning, and His voice will help us navigate what we don’t see coming. (Jack was on the School Board years ago and worked to keep the students from using the Lord's name in vain which was in the script of a play.)

Discouragement is the enemy's last attempt before the miracles come. When God is missing and nowhere to be seen in our lives we must go back to the last place we heard Him. Mary's faith brought her back to the tomb even though Jesus had died. And because of her faith, she was the first to not only hear Jesus but to see Him. 

If we don't have miracles we are in dead duck in water. But as believers, we can expect God to do miracles. His calling card is still miracles. People were drawn to Jesus because of the miracles and people should be drawn to us for the same reason. It is our relationship with God and our closeness to Him that produces the fruit of miracles. It is the knowing that God's Spirit is in us and desperately wants to work through us to touch the people around us.