Your joy in not determined by what happens to you, but by what Yeshua is doing in you and through you. God wants to free you from discouragement because no matter who you or where you come from the chatterbox wants to stop you. You can hear God's voice above all discouragement because God says you can!

God Says He Has is a reminder to us that there is no condemnation for those who are in God. A believer who is equally convinced of these two realities–sin is serious, but Messiah is enough–is the Enemy's worst nightmare. God speaks in the past tense about battles you're currently fighting and He has enabled you to hear His voice over the voices of condemnation in your life.

Our identity is based on who God says we are not what we see in ourselves. The Enemy uses the power of fear to keep us saying “what if…” instead of listening to God say “He will.” We don’t get stronger in faith by avoiding our fears. We get stronger in our faith by walking in the fear of the Lord and the full grown love of God.

The only One who has the power to give us true approval has already offered it, freely and fully. In some ways insecurity is the ultimate insult to God. Because when we allow insecurity to override God’s purpose in our lives, we’re implying that He didn’t quite get the job done when He puts us together. God wants you to to be able to say, "I have nothing to prove, because I am already approved."

This whole series is based on Steven Furtick's book "Crash The Chatterbox." The Chatterbox is a way of representing the lies we believe that keep us from accurately and actively hearing God's voice. Furtick writes, "Most people go through life thinking God never speaks to them when in fact He’s always speaking. To Everyone. Always directing. Sometimes warning. Sometimes affirming. But we hear so little of what He says because our consciousness of His voice is obscured by our mental static." God is speaking and He wants to be heard by you. It's time to crash the chatterbox!

Have you ever gone through challenging circumstances, personal loss, or just hard times? It's important to understand that God is supreme and in control of everything you experience. His desire is to lead you to a place of brokenness and ultimately healing.

It all boils down to being generous. Generosity from a savior. Generosity to a neighbor in need. By spending just a little less on gifts we free up our resources to love as Yeshua loves by giving to those who really need help. It’s not that there’s something wrong with the shopping mall—it’s that the better story is about being generous with all that God has given us!

Giving is not just about money. The most powerful, memorable gift you can give to someone else is yourself and nobody modeled this more than Yeshua. God blesses us so we can bless others. God gave us everything so we can give more to the people around us!

Quick question for you: What was the one gift you remember getting from last year? Next question: What about the fourth gift? Do you remember that one? Truth is many of us don’t because it wasn’t something we necessarily wanted or needed. Spending Less isn’t a call to stop giving gifts; it’s a call to stop spending money on gifts we won’t remember in less than a year. America spends around $600 billion dollars during the holiday season, and much of that it joyless and goes right onto a credit card. Mike Labrum, our friend and Pastor from North Seattle Alliance Church, shows us how by spending wisely on gifts we free ourselves from the anxiety associated with debt so we can take in the season with a full heart.

Everything begins and ends with God. The First Principle of Generosity is that God needs to be first in every area of your life. If want to live generously we first need to understand how irrational the generosity of God is. He has everything, he is everything and he gave us everything so that we could be more like him. Living generously is not just a choice it's a conviction to give back to the One who has given us everything!