If I were you before you even put your feet on the floor in the morning or certainly Do it within a few minutes after your up Open your mouth and say Something good is going to happen to me today And don't stop there don't stop there and go on and make the enemy really mad and say and something good is going to happen Through me today Something good is going to happen to me and something good is going to happen through me because we are blessed to be a blessing Don't stop at just wanting to be blessed We're blessed to be a blessing God told Abraham. I will bless you and I will make you a blessing Causing you to dispense good to others When you get up each morning take time to thank God for the day Don't just rush out of the house all stressed out start the day off with a grateful attitude All through the day meditate on his promises keep your mind filled with thoughts of hope faith thoughts of victory Hope is very simply a positive attitude and mindset The hopeful person absolutely refuses to be negative in any way Although they recognize and deal with their problems They remain hopeful in thought attitude and conversation all the way through to victory You can decide today to be full of hope Jeremiah said For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord their plans for good and not for evil To give you a future and a hope So what is hope hope is based on the substance of what God has done in the past and And can do for you today We have a hope that is built on Jesus Christ the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords We have a hope that is anchored to the rock of ages' we have a hope that is based upon the word of the living God Hope achieves the impossible Your life will be more rewarding more fulfilling when you're in relationship with your creator God breathed his life into you He knows what your purpose is. He knows what you can accomplish When you make him a part of your life You will go further than you can in just your own ability your own talent The scripture says if you'll put God first He will crown your efforts with success His favor on your life will take you where your talent could not take you. I want you to make a decision today It's time for you to learn how to live the life that Jesus died for you to have To let go of the things that are behind And to start fresh and to ask God to take everything that's ever been done to you that was unju or immoral and somehow work it out for your good And turn it into something that can actually help other people. You could be at the lowest place in your life right now You could be hurting so bad Maybe your husband and your wife has walked out on you. You may just feel like that Your whole life is over and little do you know it may just be beginning And let me just say this to you. You have no idea the amazing things that God has planned for you There's no devil in hell that is big enough to keep you from the best that God has for you if you're Determined to have that best and if you will do your part I want you to make a decision today that you are not going to live your life wounded and broken No matter where your life takes you your choices Your behavior your actions your decisions no matter what happens in life What role you find yourself for. God has the power to put that but in place He was broken. He used to be this she used to be that but Something new is about to happen now This is a new day God is breathing new life back into your spirit dare to take hold of his strength Get your passion back when you feel weak start declaring I am strong if you'll do this I believe and declare you will run and not be weary God is renewing your strength. So you can soar like the Eagles health is coming courage is coming freshness is coming Everything else will disappoint you but God will never disappoint you he will never fail you Saint Paul writes in Romans 15:13 May the God of Hope fill you with joy and peace so that you may overflow with hope God put you on this earth for a specific purpose You have a divine destiny with unlimited potential You have blessings that you cannot contain The favor of God is in your future Above anything that you can imagine and that is according to the Word of God You have to believe it's possible for you before that can become a reality Nothing is impossible with God Remembering yesterday's tragic mistakes cripples your ability to hope for tomorrow Stop rehearsing your mistakes When you read this book It's not a book about perfect people It's a book about human failure on a scale that makes the worst among you look like a badge winning Boy Scout or Girl Scout Moses was a murderer. He killed the Egyptian God used Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egyptian bondage Stop swimming in the sludge of your past mistakes You're a child of the Living God You are the royal blood of heaviness flowing in your veins You need to square your shoulders lift your head smile again Act like and think like it talk like it as long as you have the courage to try again. There is hope As long as you're willing to love again to believe again to start achieving again There is hope To say there's no hope for you as to slam the door of faith in the face of God Nothing is impossible with God not even the worst failure of your life the darkest page that you have amazes God Your rap sheet in heaven is boring reading to God Some of you are burdened with a crushing sense of guilt of shame a lack of self-confidence a lack of beauty a lack of brains a lack of brawn Stop it If you had been the only one on earth Jesus Christ would have died to save you. I want you to stop the brooding and the self-pity and the complaining and the misery rehearsing things that you've been going through that constitute all of your personality wake up a new person. The best is yet to be Dreams still come true. Your dreams can come true Nothing is impossible to those that believe if I could get you to believe that your life would flip-flop in one day Nothing is impossible to those that believe that means no matter what you face No matter how big the difficulty no matter how long it's taking you know, God is still on the throne You know his plans for you are for good that he's bigger than any challenge You may not have any reason in the natural to be hopeful doesn't look like you'll get well Meet the right person start your business Don't put your hope in your circumstances they may not turn out the way you thought Don't put your hope in people. They may let you down Don't put your hope in your career. Things may change Put your hope in the Lord in the God who spoke worlds into existence in the God who flung stars into space When you have your hope in him, the scripture says you will never be disappointed And sure you may go through some temporary setbacks life will happen But when it's all said and done you'll come out better than you were before God did not breathe his life into you crown you with favor give you a royal rob so you could go around anchored to bitterness anchored to doubt anchored to worry. He created you to be anchored to hope to go out each day Expecting his goodness knowing that the days ahead are greater than the days we leave keep the right perspective That sickness can't defeat you that addiction is temporary The right breaks are already in your future You may have had some disappointments life threw you a curve that cannot stop your destiny The odds may be against you but the Most High God is for you When you stay anchored to hope he'll show out in your life Ways you've never imagined You ought to get up in the morning and say God I want to know you and love you more I have done this every single morning of my life for decades I don't get out of bed in the morning Before I do this I sit on the edge of my bed before my feet touch the ground and I just say this dear God It's another day And if I don't get anything else done today I want to know you a little bit better and I want to love you a little bit more And if at the end of the day that life sucked that day sucked everything went wrong. It was terrible I sinned there were mistakes or all kinds of grief and problems and difficulties if at the end of the day I know got a little bit better than loving a little bit more. I didn't waste that day On the other hand doesn't matter how many things you accomplished how many things you achieve? How famous you become how much money you make if at the end of each day You don't know God a little bit better an love him a little bit more. You just wasted that day Because God did not create you and put you on earth just to mark things off your to-do list Before my feet even hit the floor and before I actually physically get out of bed I just take that moment to remember and one of my favorite verses for the morning is Psalm 143 Verse 8 and it says let the morning bring me words of your unfailing love for I've placed my trust in you Show me the way I should go for to you I entrust my life and then I simply say good morning Lord I don't know where you're going, but wherever you are going, I'm coming with you And the reason I love that it says let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love not mine Because I will fail that's part of being human and and show me the way I should go for to you I entrust my life. It's just a way of acknowledging Lord. My steps are ordered by you. So today I want to gladly walk Close to you in the steps that you have ordered Every morning I pray that God will put somebody in front of me that I can help Somebody that I can be a blessing to and I'm not talking about on TV or in the pulpit. I'm talking about me persons I'm out and about in my world. Who can I help and who can I bless let your light shine before men That they might see your good works and what glorify your father who is in heaven every day of my life I pray that God will use me to make somebody else's life better This is a time for us to begin to use our talents Because every one of you every single one of you has something to contribute in society Every one of you has a ministry every one of you has an anointing from God I just love to think about what could happen if every believer really understood who they are in Christ and what they have to contribute and we would stop shrinking back in fear And we would just get out in the midst of our world Your neighborhood where you go to the marketplace where you shop where you go to school where you go to church and we would simply do what the Bible says let your light shine Stop worrying about what you can't do and start using what you can do Every day, you should declare I have the favor of God Favor is all my family favor is on my health favor is on my business favor is on my finances This needs to be a way of life Where every day Whether it's sunny or raining Whether you're on the mountain top or in the valley you get up in the morning and say I have the favor of God That's not just to remind yourself Not just to show God that you're trusting him, but you're showing the enemy who you belong to The scripture says if you will acknowledge God in all your ways, he will crown your efforts with success One way to acknowledge God is all through the day under your breath declare his favor You may not see how you can accomplish a dream How you get well doesn't look like it's ever going to change People don't have the final say people don't control your destiny People can't see the favor on your life. They don't know what God is about to do Don't let them talk you out of your dreams Don't let people convince you that you can't get well, you'll never afford a nice house. You'll never break the addiction They're looking at the natural we serve a supernatural God one touch of his favor will catapult you ahead They may be negative discouraging condescending. Let it go in one ear and out the other None of that can stop your purpose the favor on your life will defy the odds Favor will take you where you don't have the qualifications. On paper it may not make sense. Don't worry. God knows what he's doing Whenever you start your day you need to start it with God And you need to do some things on purpose. You need to make a decision. This is the day the Lord has made I will enjoy this day Make an announcement to the devil. Who is the joy thief. I will enjoy this day I'm putting on my righteousness. I know who I am in Christ I'm putting on my peace Jesus gave me peace. I'm not going to get upset today if I don't get my way about everything If getting things right with God first thing when you get up whenever your morning is If it wasn't important than it wouldn't say it all over the Bible Get up early in the morning and take care of the hard tasks get them out of the way first Don't let some job you have to do threaten you all day and make you dread the day David got up early the day he killed Goliath. Come on. You're not going to kill your Giants laying in bed hitting the snooze button I think every morning we need to dedicate ourselves to God. Let's look at Psalm 25 verse 1 Unto you O Lord, do I bring my life plain and simple I get that Psalm out very frequently and reading I love Psalm 25 one unto you O Lord. Do I bring my life It's a great thing to do every morning Just sit or stand or kneel or whatever you're comfortable just lift up your hands and say Here I am Lord I'm yours Every morning we have to go to him and say God show me my assignment Show me what to do show me where to go. Give me the words to speak Asking for wisdom for guidance. That's an act of surrender It takes humility to say God, you know what's best for me I can't do this on my own. I need your help Open the right doors close the wrong doors make the path clear The scripture says when you acknowledge God in all your ways, he will direct your path But too often we make our plans without consulting God Then we ask him to bless those plans We wonder why it's a struggle why it feels like it's always uphill. We have it backwards We're making a move and then asking God for help. The right way is to ask God first God what do you want me to do? Should I date this person? Should I start this new project? Should I make this purchase if you feel peace about it, then move forward if not Hold off knowing that God knows what's best for you when every morning you ask God for wisdom You are showing your dependency on him When you humble yourself like that, the scripture says God will exalt you a lot of people these days they're too prideful think I don't need any help. I can do this on my own Joel look at how successful I am already Think about where you could be if you start acknowledging God Think about the mistakes he could have saved you from Think about the opportunity the favor the doors you couldn't open but God can open Don't do it on your own that will limit you Set your mind every morning I'm gonna be a peacemaker and a maintainer of peace I'm gonna be adaptable. If I don't get my way then I'll just adapt and be happy anyway And extremely important Galatians 10 be mindful to be a blessing Spend a little bit of time every day thinking about something you can do for somebody else and do it early Set your mind to complement everybody you get around find something Nice that you can say to them. We think sometimes That's that's a nice outfit you got on or boy your hair is pretty well why not open your mouth and say so what you think doesn't bless anybody Tell em The more you compliment other people the better you feel Make your mind up to compliment the person that you're married to at least five times today Do you know your marriage could be saved if you'll do that And not only that people will respond to the positive things you say to them and they'll start wanting to make you happy You can't just complain about everything you don't like Be mindful to be a blessing. Come on. I dare you every morning to think of somebody that you can be a blessing to I suggest starting every day saying God, I am absolutely nothing without you. I can do nothing without you. I lean entirely on you today I am desperate without your help And really no matter how many victories I've had in the past that doesn't guarantee me a victory today if I'm not leaning on God today Lean on God yesterday doesn't help me today. I have to lean on God today You have weaknesses You have limitations. God has no limitations, but we have limitations So you say Lord, I'm weak in this area. I need your strength I believe you're changing me every day, and I'm not going to spend today Worrying about what I did wrong yesterday I trust you to strengthen me in my weakness That our weaknesses really don't have to make that much difference if we know how to let God fill our weaknesses with his power We get to overwrought about what we can't do And we don't get excited enough about what God can do You see no matter what you can't do or what I can't do God can do And miracles don't come in cant's they come in cans. Well, we get what we believe for Let's start believing that the power of God is available to us To see miracles in our lives and in other people's life. We're not gonna have miracle that we don't believe for miracles We have to believe in the miracle working power of God When we go to God each day The right attitude is God. What is it you want me to do? What is my assignment? Not giving God orders telling him what to do how to do it. Rather God. Show me the best path Show me how to overcome this problem. Show me how to accomplish my dreams God wants us to rely on him not some formula thinking well If I do this do that and do the other then God will bless me if that's all it took. We wouldn't really need God David understood this principle in 2nd Samuel 5 He had just been made king over Israel when the Philistines heard about it They came down to this valley to attack him Now David was a warrior. He had conquered a lot of armies his nature was to attack but here's why David was considered a man after God's own heart verse 19 says David inquired of the Lord Shall I go attack the Philistines? Will you hand this enemy over to me? Notice his humility. He didn't say I got this been there done that no problem He took time to inquire of the Lord Before he went to battle. He got quiet and said God, what do you want me to do? He was getting his daily direction He didn't assume because something worked in the past it was going to work right there He asked a very significant question. God will you hand this enemy over to me? Seems like that would be a given he was just put in charge of the Israelites God's chosen people Surely God wouldn't let them be defeated. But the fact is we're not supposed to fight every battle David was smart enough to ask am I supposed to attack? He was saying God if I go in there, are you going to go with me? He was showing his dependency on God. He recognized where his strength his favor his ability came from And sometimes we assume If there's an obstacle There's something trying to stop us. There's no question get in there and go to battle God is on our side But a wiser approach is to say God what is your plan? How do you want me to respond to this opposition? Shall I attack or shall I be still and let you fight for me? If I go in God are you going to go with me? We've all fought battles where we didn't come out the way we thought Maybe it was because We didn't inquire of the Lord Verse 19 goes on to say the Lord said to David go for I will surely Hand the Philistines over to you Once he got clear direction once he knew he had God's blessing He went down there and defeated the Philistines. But if we would do like David and inquire of the Lord Before we get into conflict before we make big decisions go to God for daily directions It would save us a lot of heartache and pain I've learned what God orders he will pay for But God is not obligated to bring victory to battles that we're not supposed to be in and yes God is merciful yes He'll help us but it's much better to inquire of the Lord before you make important decisions He doesn't want you to get hooked on a formula. He wants you to be hooked on him When you develop this habit of going to God for your daily bread Daily Direction saying God how do you want me to respond? How should I deal with this situation in my health my finances God Give me your wisdom your insight your favor. That's how God will lead you down the best path for your life What are some of your morning's like do you Go to bed intending to get up and spend time with God, but then when the alarm goes off you hit the snooze Then you hit the snooze again. And then you hit the snooze again And then you've laid in bed too long. And so then you get up of course now, you have no time for anything And your in a frenzy you're in a rush. And so that makes you grouchy You know you should have spent time with God you didn't do it and the whole day basically just becomes a nightmare All I can tell you if you don't spend time with God you are gonna have one tragic day After another after another after another after another after another It's amazing what happens when you give God that first little bit of time And I believe that you'll be you'll you'll find your time with God so fruitful that then you'll start making ways to get more No every morning you need to go to God for your daily bread your daily wisdom daily direction Too many times We're trying to do things only in our own strength our own intellect our own ability That's going to limit us God can see things that you can't see He knows the right people who should be in your life He knows where the danger is Where the dead ends are God knows how to catapult you into your destiny. You have an advantage Are you taking time for your daily bread Sometimes we rush out of the house. I'm in a hurry. I don't have time today Joel I got to get to work. I live by this principle Never meet with other people before you meet with God If you'll take time to acknowledge God say God I need you today Lead me guide me. Keep me on the right path Not only will your day go better, but God will keep you from making mistakes Start every day with Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is so important What are you thankful for Do you do you thank God daily for even little things There's so much to be thankful for When you wake up in the morning Say thank you for grace Thank you for mercy. Thank you for understanding Thank you for wisdom. Thank you for parents. Thank you for love. Thank you for kindness. Thank you for Humility, thank you for peace. Thank you for prosperity Say thank you in advance for what's already yours True desire in the heart for anything good is God's proof to you sent before hand to indicate that it's yours already That itch that you have Whatever it is you want to do that thing that you want to do to help others into to grow and to make money That desire that it's that's God's proof to you sent before hand already to indicate that it's yours And anything you want good you can have So claim it Work hard to get it When you get it reach back pull someone else up Each one teach one Don't just aspire to make a living Aspire to make a difference You know don't don't ever waste a day What you know you think about time differently as you get older I think when you're in your 20s and maybe even 30s, maybe even 40s you don't don't think too much about time But a few years ago it occurred to me that two-thirds of my life was over I just became much more aware of time and how how foolish it is to waste any day that you have, you know There's something really interesting about time. We all get the same amount in a day every day is 24 hours Some people are Very very fruitful and effective and some people just waste their time day after day after day That's a choice that we make but there's one thing about time Once it goes by you never get it back So how tragic it is to waste Any day Of your life. I think we need to live every day like it was Our very last one And live it to the absolute fullest That we can live it In the morning before you go anywhere You get up and you make a decision. I belong to God. I don't belong to myself and when I go Out. When I go out of this bedroom I start dealing with my family when I go out the front door and I start dealing with society I am a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I need to put on behavior That's going to represent him I have the mind of Christ I have the Spirit of God in me I don't have the privilege or the right which is not really a privilege to go out and just act like everybody else And my real purpose in being here is not to please myself. It's to represent God and draw other people to him through my Godly behavior If you get up every morning and do nothing but think about all your mistakes and all your problems and how you messed up yesterday and how bad you feel And about everything you don't have in life I can almost promise you that you will not be able to go out and be nice to anybody You got to wake up in the morning and you got to think some things on purpose Don't just think and meditate on everything that the devil tries to drop in your head You begin to think like God wants you to think and you can do your own thinking you don't have to just think whatever the devil offers you you can do your own thinking And one of the things that will help you is to talk out loud Get up every morning drop down on your knees by the side of your bed right away and just say Jesus Jesus Jesus Jesus help me today behave the way you want me to help me have You know you work for God you're on his payroll If you go out and do what you're supposed to every day, you'll get your paycheck. God will take care of you Come on, I'm talking to you God will take care of you We all work for God Let me tell you something. You're not going to defeat the devil laying on your couch watching soap operas and eating doughnuts We need to learn how to live with intentionality That needs to be one of the first laws Of our living and we need to realize it's one of the first rules of success intentionality We have to do things on purpose We can't just wait and see what falls on us. We need to do it on purpose you do what you can do You do what you know to do that God has taught you to do And then God will always do what you cannot do Do you hear me You do something to sow some seed so God can do the parts that you cannot do What you're facing maybe bigger stronger more powerful But when you refuse to worry when you refuse to live stressed out Instead you stay in peace Thanking God that he's fighting your battles knowing that he's in control You are showing God by your actions that you're trusting him David said though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil God is not just with you on the mountaintops He's with you in the valleys when you're going through things He knows what you're up against the scripture says God is concerned about what concerns you A sparrow doesn't fall to the ground without God knowing about it How much more is God concerned about what's happening in your life trust him live from a place of peace This is a decision We have to make on a daily basis because every day there's something to worry about there's some reason to get upset All through the day keep this phrase close to your heart God's got this He's concerned about me. He's working in my life. He's bigger than my enemies. He's lining up the right people He's arranging things in my favor That attitude of faith is what allows God to do amazing things I will not put my feet on the floor in the morning until I talk to God Can you say without hesitation That God is first in your life It's silly to say that we don't have time for God and if we don't have time for him than he's not first in our lives Do you think about God in His goodness in your life Do you take time to thank God for your blessings even little ones Live to please the Lord Make decisions that are pleasing to God how many times do we decide to put God first But then the keeping him first becomes an issue Because in case you haven't noticed the world is full of things to distract us I'm sure you've experienced you make a decision that you're going to pray every morning and study the word before you do anything else and then all of a sudden it's nighttime and you don't even know what happened, but that plan you made didn't work out and so More than anything now I want you to listen to me more than anything the devil will fight you about keeping God first in your time In your finances and in many many many different ways You see here's the thing that you don't want to do I found myself many years ago Trying so hard to work God into my schedule And finally one day the Lord said why don't you just work your schedule around me So are you trying to find a place to put God into your schedule or would you be willing today to say God from now on you're gonna be first and I don't care what else has to go or what I have to change what I have to make an adjustment in I want to keep you first in my life in every thing Let me tell you being a Christian just does not work out right if God is a sideline in your life He doesn't want to just be part of your Sunday morning. He wants to be welcomed into and be a vital part of everything that you do Millions of people believe in Jesus and go to church on Sunday But God is not first in their life He puts you first in his life, do you know that Every single one of you is first in God's thoughts And I want you to understand this today you are on God's mind all the time He's always thinking about you. We could not even count the thoughts that God has toward us They would be like little grains of sand on the beach Before you ever arrived on planet earth. God made a plan for every single day of your life He won't force you to walk in it, but he would like you to walk in it He would like to guide you and lead you through life and literally let me say it again be involved in everything you do in every decision you make God wants to be part of it That's what Jesus died for us to have Boy we sure need God when we're desperate Well, you know we can't just go to God when we're desperate That's not a walk with God. You say you mean to tell me that I need to spend time with God every day How about like about every five minutes God is not for the emergencies in our life He is our life Well, so we can just keep trying to do a bunch of stuff without him and just fail time after time and hopefully we'll finally get it that's what happened to me Now some of you are still young enough that you think oh, man. I just like how to get married or gonna have kids I gotta climb the ladder of success, you know Well, that's good. Do all that But if you do all that without God, you'll come to the end of it and you'll still be very dissatisfied You're gonna be like a person roaming around in the wilderness Seeing one Mirage after another that you think has got the water that you need This will make me happy well, this will make me happy well, this will make me happy Nothing is going to make you happy Content and satisfied you may you may go and enjoy a vacation and you're happy while you're there But who wants to just enjoy certain events and days in their life. I want to enjoy every single ordinary day of my life every day Giving God part of your day first is a wise thing to do I would say that even if you can't do it for a long time in the morning, just give him something something To get your day started right. All over the Bible there are people who rose up early in the morning And sought God you know, it's not gonna hurt you to get up a half an hour early just to seek God Moses rose up early Abraham rose up early Joseph David, Jacob Jesus Mary a matter of fact I like this and said Mary rose up early and she went to the tomb And I don't want to strap laws on anybody But I do think that if you can seek God before you do anything else in the day It's much better for you because it's just good to get full of God before you have to get full of something else How important it is for you to give God the first Portion of your time and seek Him yourself on a regular basis. I believe that it is the answer to every problem you have You cannot stay strong in the Lord if you don't spend time with him So many people say well, I just don't feel like I've got a real close relationship with God Well, are you seeking Him? The Bible says if you seek Him diligently that means regularly The word seek just means to crave pursue and go after with all your might What happens to us when we spend time with God well number one your joy increases You get up in the morning you feel depressed you go spend a little time with God it'll fly away Psalm 16:11 says in his presence is fullness of joy You get around God you start getting happy So when I spend time with God in the morning, I just feel like it kind of calms me down for the day just kind of sets everything in order and gets me ready to go out and be what God wants me to be You happy one day depressed the next spend time with God you'll get stable He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shed of the Almighty whose power No foe can come against no devil in Hell can defeat you when you regularly go to the secret place You think Jesus wouldn't walk out of a business meeting to go seek God oh, yes he would have He knew there was a time when you got to walk away and you got to get with God because if you don't you're gonna go over the edge And I believe Jesus anytime he felt like he had all he could take I think he just got away from it and he went and Got refreshed Put God first place in your life Don't act like he's some celestial Santa Claus that you run to every time you need something in the rest of the time ignore him Take time Give God time Nothing given to God has ever lost when you give God time you don't lose it You sew it as seed and he'll give it back to you The first fruit of everything belongs to God If we give God the first portion. The rest is blessed one of the reasons why people are stressed out and they never have enough time is because they're not giving God the time that he deserves Well today it seems like nobody's got enough time but the truth is is everybody's got the same amount Well, you say, you know, it sounds good and and I want to do it, but I just don't know what to do You know, sometimes you just need to take that time you have and just remember where you came from Sometimes you need to remember you're not where you need to be. But thank God I'm not where I used to be Oh, thank god, I'm not where I used to be and you know what If you don't feel good just start taking a few minutes every morning and say Lord I'm just gonna wait on you and I just believe your healing powers working in my body right now And then just say things like the healing power of God is working in me right now Thank you Lord for your healing power working in me right now Spend time with God If you'll give him time So many things will change in your life You won't be the one in the prayer line all the time. You'll be the one praying for other people You won't be the one needing a miracle. You'll be somebody's miracle You won't be the one that's always having to get counseling. You'll be the one counseling other people Come on we all start off the same place, but we don't have to end up where we started out. Let's make progress Let's begin to seek God on a regular basis and let God be God in our lives. Amen One of the ways that you can take an ordinary life and make it extraordinary is to learn to do every single thing that you do With and for God Raise your kids for God Let your marriage glorify God Let your attitude glorify God let God into everything That you do God believes in you. He's got hope for you He's got a future plan for you. And no matter how many times you you've messed up God is willing to give you another chance and another chance and another chance if you'll just be serious about your relationship with him And yet when God speaks to you when he puts something in your heart when something in the word comes alive to you If you'll listen to your spirit and not your head You see things and you can believe four things that just absolutely don't even make any sense If you do something you believe God is asking you to do and it doesn't seem to work for a while Don't give up just keep believing if you heard from God that God will bring it to pass and make it happen He'll either redirect you or you just need to wait on him. You know, if you're not believing for the impossible Then you're not open for a miracle in your life But I'll tell you one thing if you believe that God's put something in your heart and it stays And it's not going away and it's not going away. You take one step And you see what happens if that seems to work You take another step and you see what happens and if that seems to work Then you take another step and pretty soon those steps that were baby steps are starting to get bigger and bigger and bigger And before you know it, you know What's gonna happen you're gonna be running with God full speed ahead doing things that you cannot even imagine We all have things that we're believing for a dream to come to pass our health to turn around to meet the right person We've been praying for a long time standing on the promises We don't see anything happening. But what you can't see is behind the scenes God is at work He not only heard you when you prayed he took it one step further and put the miracle into motion The Psalmist said the moment you pray the tide of the battle begins to turn And just because you don't see anything happening doesn't mean the answer is not on the way And the people that see promises fulfilled the people that see breakthroughs are the people that keep praying keep believing keep standing in faith In first John it says this is the confidence we have in God if we ask anything according to his will We know that he hears us Thoughts will tell you it's not making a difference to pray you're wasting your time getting your hopes up Believing that you'll get well you saw the medical report. You'll never break the addiction You've had it so long don't believe those thoughts the moment you prayed the creator of the universe goes to work It may not happen on your timetable or the way you thought but he is a faithful God What he promised you he will bring to pass David said each morning. I bring my request before God and wait expectantly He didn't just pray and say okay I did my part he prayed and then waited with expectation he went through the day looking for God's goodness Believing for favor talking like it was going to happen not I'll never defeat this giant. Look how big he is It's twice my size. I don't have a chance David had a report of victory He looked at Goliath and said this day I will defeat you and feed your head to the birds of the air He expected God's favor. He said surely goodness Mercy follows me everywhere that I go he was saying in effect I know the forces that are for me are greater than the forces that are against me What am I saying? It's not enough to just pray. You have to follow it up with expectancy with the knowing that God not only heard you Because you prayed according to his will but that he dispatched the angel with the answer What God brings you it may not be exactly what you thought the way you thought But I can tell you firsthand what God has in store will be bigger better more rewarding than you ever imagined Don't put God in a box You may not see how it can happen. The medical report is not good You don't have the finances the connections. God has ways to do it that you've never thought of David used a slingshot to defeat Goliath he didn't have the training the experience the equipment but a slingshot with the favor of God is more powerful than a whole army without God knows what you need and he knows how to get it to you You don't have to figure out how God's going to do it. The scripture says lean not to your own understanding If you try to figure it out, you're going to get confused But you say Joel this all sounds good. It's encouraging but I don't believe it's going to happen for me. I don't believe that Just because you said something anything's going to change then this is not for you. This is for believers This is for people have know God is in control That is set the miracle into motion That the angels on the way You're going to see your healing your promotion your breakthrough your victory. God is going to open doors No, man can shut and take you to the fullness of your destiny We should get up each morning believing for a good day Expecting favor knowing that God is directing our steps at the same time We should realize everything may not go perfect Every person may not treat us right our plans may not stay on schedule There may be some bumps in the road and things that we didn't see coming If you're only going to enjoy the day if your plans work out Then you're setting yourself up for disappointment at the start of the day You need to make a decision that no matter what comes against you. You're not going to get upset No matter what someone says you're not going to be offended no matter what delays Disappointments bad breaks. You're not going to be sour. You've already made up your mind to stay in peace This day is a gift from God. We are not always going to be here You have to put your foot down and say I am not going to let these same things keep upsetting me I am going to stay in peace Even if the boss is unfair, even if my spouse is grumpy, even if my flight is delayed Even if the medical report isn't good. This is the day the Lord has made I have made up my mind. I'm gonna enjoy it God saw everything that happened to you. He knows what was unfair he knows how you were treated Nothing is a surprise to him if you'll keep moving forward. He'll not only bring you out. He'll bring you out better In the scripture it tells us to put on the whole armour of God part of that armor is the shoes of peace Every morning you need to make sure you put on your shoes of peace too many people go through the day barefooted offended discouraged upset But when you make this decision at the start of the day that nothing is going to upset you Really you're putting your shoes on you're saying God I trust you I know you're directing my steps and even if things don't go perfectly today I believe all things are going to work out for my good When you're in peace, you're in a position of power The way to honor God is to get up each day with passion being your best Pursuing what he put in your heart There's always going to be things in our lives that we do not have the answers to and I can tell you from personal experience as well as the Word of God if you have to know the why behind everything and you're going to spend your life trying to figure everything out You are never going to have contentment and satisfaction You are never going to enter the rest of God because trust always requires having some unanswered questions in your life We have to not know and be satisfied We have to come to a place in our walk with God where even though it doesn't seem fair It doesn't feel right that we love God enough and trust him enough that we know that whatever is going on in our life that he's still in control and that if we keep trusting him he will work it out for our good So many things that we can have questions about But instead of that he wants to hear I trust you When you choose to worry you do not trust When you try to fix what is impossible you do not trust When you hurry ahead and don't wait for the Lord to move and to change you you do not trust When you lie awake twisting and turning at night you do not trust When you doubt biblical principles and promises that are right here in the book you love and study you do not trust When you turn to others first For help you do not trust When you listen to human counsel and give a higher priority to that then the principles you have just learned you do not trust when you manipulate and maneuver situations you do not trust When you step in and take charge without Praying and being led by the Spirit of God you do not trust When you cling to others in order to feel secure and needed and loved you do not trust What is it we do that keep us from trusting God And how can we break that habit and watch God break through In ways that we would never have expected He will win the battle he will win the battle it'll be his battle and I'll simply enjoy the Spoils of his victory he'll win this battle trust Him Trust God Trusting God is a decision And yes it's difficult when you don't understand what's going on and it's especially difficult when what's going on in your life just does not seem fair But part of the thing that you have to realize is that what you don't understand now Things that you're going through right now that you do not understand you cannot make any sense out of it all later on I promise you later on you will look back and say now I get it Now I get it amen And please believe me when I say that a lot of the things that you think are terrible Actually in reality Are good and the things that aren't good God can work for good But now listen we're partners with God he doesn't just work everything out for good We trust him and he works everything out for good We trust God and he works everything out for good But I want to tell you something no matter what condition your life is in right now No matter how many pieces it's in with God's help you can rebuild Through the strength of God you can rise up You can run and not be weary you can walk and you shall not faint When everything else is crumbling around us in the darkest hour of your life God will never fail you God uses storms to teach us that we need him every day in every hour of our lives God teaches us through those storms That he is all-powerful that he is mighty and that he alone is control of planet Earth The God we serve Is the master of wind and waves He is the chain breaker and he is the waymaker He is the way. He is the truth. He is life It is his voice that penetrates the darkness. He is still the light of the world. He is the Lord of glory He is still the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is still our companion in the valley of the shadow of death He is our hope he is our fortress he is our high tower He is the mighty God the everlasting father and the Prince of Peace He is the sea walker and the blind man healer. He is the champion of death hell and the grave His name is Jesus the Son of the Living God Heaven's hope and hell's dread if you have fallen Get up because Christ has conquered your storm Start living again Start loving again Start believing again Start achieving again Listen to the voice of the master. Your storm is over Stop allowing your past to control your future. Don't be pushed by your problems Be led by your dreams God is your father Nothing is impossible to you. Nothing is impossible to you Nothing is impossible to you When you believe that you'll never be the same Do not allow the storm of failure to force you to scale down your dreams And minimize what you think you can do We were made by the hand of God to soar like eagles Don't allow the foolish opinions of other people to determine your future You let God Almighty guide you through the storm you let him build the foundation of your life You let him set you on fire With a burning vision and a hope that will not go away. I assure you you will accomplish great things with few assets because God's blessing is greater than all the approval the world will ever give you don't let anyone ever box you into their putrid dreams for your life You live your life to the maximum every day the sun comes up
