cannyben

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you ! John 20:19 In John 20, Jesus had just risen from the dead. One evening the disciples were huddled together in a room behind locked doors for fear of being arrested. They did everything they could to keep people out, but Jesus suddenly walked through the door. He didn’t unlock it, open it. He just came through it. God was showing us that closed doors can’t keep us from what He has for us. Forces of darkness may have locked the door, trying to keep us outside. The door is locked with a deadbolt. The good news is that God comes through doors. He’s not limited by what’s limiting us. We’re natural; He’s supernatural. Closed doors can’t stop us. God is going to walk right through it. He’s not going to let us miss our destiny.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 In the Scripture, the life of a believer is compared to an eagle. It’s interesting that day after day, parent eagles sit on their eggs to keep them warm, unmoved by what’s not changing. They never feel the baby eaglets kick, and the eggs never grow any bigger. There’s no sign of life. But on day thirty-five, suddenly the eaglet starts pecking on the shell and is hatched. While we’re waiting for a promise from God to happen, some things have to develop in the dark, in secret. We have to believe when there’s no sign on the outside that what’s inside is really alive. That promise God gave us. Don’t let the circumstances fool you. Walk by faith and not by sight.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. Matthew 4:1 When Jesus came up out of the water after His baptism, God spoke from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son.” It was a glorious moment, signalling the beginning of His ministry. You would think Jesus would immediately start teaching and healing, but instead He was led by the Spirit into the desert. If you had seen Jesus there, you could have thought it didn’t make sense. Why the silence? Why alone in the desert? There will be times when God takes you into a silent season, into things that you don’t understand—a door closes, a person walks away. You could be down on yourself thinking, “What did I do wrong, God? Quit being discouraged over what didn’t work out. Stay in faith. You’re in a time of testing. There’s something bigger that God has in your future. He’s leading you to the fullness of what He has in store.

“Go and tell Hazekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.”’ Isaiah 38:5 When King Hezekiah was sick to the point of death, the prophet Isaiah, who spoke for God, said to him, “Put your house in order, for you will surely die.” He didn’t say he might die or that it didn’t look good. So what do you do when God says no? Rather than give up, Hezekiah started weeping and praying and asking God for mercy. God told Isaiah to go back and tell Hezekiah, “I’ve heard your prayer and seen your tears, and I will add fifteen years to your life.” Even when we feel as though God has said no, if we dare do as Hezekiah and ask God for a yes, God can reverse a no. Every circumstance may say, “Forget it. God said no. Just live with it.” Hezekiah’s attitude was, “God, I’m asking in Your great mercy to change Your mind and give me a yes.” Are you bold enough to ask for a yes, even though al...

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. Luke 16:10 In 1 Samuel 17, when David was in the shepherds’ fields, his father told him to take a provision of food to his brothers who were serving on the battlefield. David could have said, “Samuel anointed me to be the next king, and now you want me to be an errand boy to brothers who disrespect me?” If David had been too proud to serve others, to do what seemed insignificant, he wouldn’t have faced Goliath. It was a test he had to pass. Had he not been faithful to do the small, he would have missed his destiny. If we are faithful in the small that God is asking us to do, He will trust us with more. Once we do the insignificant thing, the door will open to the big thing. We need to pass those tests.

“… don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat ? What will we drink ? What will we wear ?’ Matthew 6:31 In Matthew 6, Jesus was talking about worry. Jesus was saying, “You may feel worried. It may seem like it’s never going to happen. Don’t get trapped by your words.” In life, there are always two voices vying for your attention. You’ll hear a voice of defeat saying, “It’s never going to work out.” But if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the voice of faith saying, “God has a way.” When you verbalize that thought, you’re giving it the right to come to pass. You have to get in agreement with God. The voice of defeat may seem louder, but you can override it. You can take away all its power by choosing the voice of faith.

And he said, “Truly I tell you unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 The Scripture talks about how we need to have childlike faith. Children don’t try to figure everything out. When you tell your child that you’re going to buy them something or take them to someplace, they don’t worry about any of the details. They don’t wonder if you have the finances to afford it. They don’t lose sleep over whether it’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen. Because they trust you to take care of it. Even though we’re humans and could break our promises, they have this incredible trust in us, believing that we wouldn’t promise it if we could not make it happen. What would happen if we had that same kind of trust in our heavenly Father, knowing that He cannot fail in what He has promised us, that He cannot go back on His Word?

My cup overflows with blessings. Psalm 23:5 Some people try to convince us that spiritual people should be poor and not have much of anything. They seem to prefer that we should be constantly struggling, in debt, not able to pay your bills. That is not God’s best. Jesus didn’t come and give His life so we could barely get by and live off others’ leftovers. He came that we might live an abundant life (John 10:10). “Abundance” means to have plenty—plenty of joy, plenty of peace, plenty of good health, plenty of resources. Our God wants us to start having an abundant mentality.

"I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain." Psalm 3:4 What do you do when the odds are against you and nothing is working right? Sometimes we call on our friends or our spouse. God wants us to depend on Him. We have to recognize that we are limited, that we have restrictions. By ourselves, we’ll get stuck, but when we ask God to help us, when we turn to our Creator, supernatural things happen. He is unlimited and has unlimited resources. He controls the universe, and the good news is that He wants to help us. Now it’s time to go to the source. What we couldn’t do in our own strength, God is going to make it happen.

He replied, The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success. Genesis 24:40 When Abraham was old and close to death, he told his assistant to travel back to his hometown to find his son, Isaac, a wife. The assistant asked him how he would know if it was the right girl, and Abraham was saying, Don't worry because I have a history with God. I've seen His faithfulness over and over down through the years. I am confident it will happen. I have walked with God and seen His goodness. As Abraham did, we'll see times when God brought a promise to pass that looked impossible. He showed us mercy and turned a situation around. Whatever we face, keep walking in faithfulness and be confident that He will do it again and make our journey a success. PRAYER: “Father, Thank You that Your hand has been upon our lives in so many ways. Thank You for the countless things You have made happen for our good that we could never ma...

My cup overflows with blessings. Psalm 23:5 Some people try to convince us that spiritual people should be poor and not have much of anything. They seem to prefer that we should be constantly struggling, in debt, not able to pay our bills. That is not God’s best. Jesus didn’t come and give His life so we could barely get by and live off others’ leftovers. He came that we might live an abundant life (John 10:10). “Abundance” means to have plenty—plenty of joy, plenty of peace, plenty of good health, plenty of resources. Our God wants us to start having an abundant mentality.

I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God: Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury…so that the work will not stop. Ezra 6:8 In the Scripture, a man named Zerubbabel was in charge of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem that had been destroyed years earlier. Everything was going fine until they laid the foundation, then the opposition came to the point where the king of Persia shut down the work. For several years, it looked as though the enemy had won. But when the king learned of the original decree to rebuild the temple, he not only approved the restart but he ordered funds from the royal treasury to pay the full construction costs. What the enemy meant for harm, God turned for good. We may have people and circumstances coming against us, but God knows how to cause it to backfire. God does work behind the scenes. People who were against us are suddenly going to be for us.

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 118:1 Today is a special day for us to give thanks to God for the good things He has done in our land, in our lives, and in the lives of our family members. When we take the time to pause and remember, we can see those times in our life when God brought us victory, brought us success. When we remember what God has said and give thanks to God for who He is and all that He has done, it will transform our lives. And let us remember that thanksgiving is an attitude of our heart. Living with an attitude of gratitude means we don’t just thank God for what He did in the past, we also thank Him for what He will do in the future. We thank Him for opening new doors, and for bringing the right people into our life. When we thank God in advance, that’s really a declaration of faith. Live every day with an attitude of gratitude and thanksgiving.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4 We all have times when we feel like we’re surrounded by difficulties, surrounded by a sickness, or surrounded by debt. When we’re in a difficult time, the enemy will do a lot of talking. Don’t believe those lies. The enemy thinks he has you surrounded, but the Most High God has him surrounded. God knows every attack, every difficulty, every unfair situation that’s going to happen. When we feel like we’re surrounded, come back to the place of peace and say, “I know my God is still on the throne, and He is surrounding what’s surrounding me. He’s bigger than this opposition, greater than this sickness, and more powerful than these enemies. The forces for us are greater than the forces against us.

“I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.” Psalm 30:1 Have you ever wondered, “Why are all these unfair setbacks and difficulties coming against us? Why all the opposition?” It’s because when we gave our life to Christ, God said, “You’re mine.” When He put a crown of favour on our head, we became a target to the enemy. He knows God has destined us to take new ground, so he’s working overtime to try to stop us. Those bad breaks weren’t random; those were strategic attacks. The enemy wouldn’t waste his time bringing those challenges if he didn’t know there was greatness in us. We need to know that there is a fight for our future, but it’s not our battle. God is fighting for us. The enemy may send opposition that looks too big, but God triumphs over every negative force. Those setbacks and difficulties that are trying to keep us from our destiny, God is speaking to them right now. Breakthroughs are coming, healing is coming, f...

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”. Galatians 6:9 It’s easy to believe when we’re seeing signs of what we’re believing for. The test comes when we’re praying, but the report isn’t improving. We know God put the promise in our heart, but there’s no sign of it happening. But many times, before a promise comes to pass, we have to go through a season of silence when we don’t see anything changing. This is when many people get discouraged and give up. Paul says that in due season we shall reap if we don’t lose heart. It doesn’t say there’s a good chance we’ll reap. God says that if we won’t get tired of doing the right thing, we will reap in due season.

“What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open”. Revelation 3:7 We’ve all had times when we didn’t get the job we wanted, or the loan that didn’t go through. We did our best , but the door closed. But God wouldn’t allow the door to close if it was going to keep us from our destiny. We may not see how it can work out, but the scripture says God is our doorkeeper. Other people and obstacles cannot keep us from what God has ordained for us. It may feel as though we’re behind a closed door. We’re working hard, but not getting ahead in our finances. Those closed doors are not permanent. The Most High God is our doorkeeper.

Some people will try to define us by our mistakes. Revelation 12:10 They’ll stick labels on us, reminding us of the times we failed, the times we compromised. When we go through one bad season, don’t be surprised if people say, “God is not going to bless us.” They can’t stop what God has ordained for our life. We may have failed, but we’re not a failure. That was a moment in our life, that was one season, and it doesn’t determine our future. We cannot stop others from putting a negative label on us. We are defined by what God says about us. We are forgiven. We are redeemed. Our failures are in our yesterday.”

“What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open”. Revelation 3:7 We’ve all had times when we didn’t get the job we wanted, or the loan that didn’t go through. We did our best , but the door closed. But God wouldn’t allow the door to close if it was going to keep us from our destiny. We may not see how it can work out, but the scripture says God is our doorkeeper. Other people and obstacles cannot keep us from what God has ordained for us. It may feel as though we’re behind a closed door. We’re working hard, but not getting ahead in our finances. Those closed doors are not permanent. The Most High God is our doorkeeper.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart”. Galatians 6:9 It’s easy to believe when we’re seeing signs of what we’re believing for. The test comes when we’re praying, but the report isn’t improving. We know God put the promise in our heart, but there’s no sign of it happening. But many times, before a promise comes to pass, we have to go through a season of silence when we don’t see anything changing. This is when many people get discouraged and give up. Paul says that in due season we shall reap if we don’t lose heart. It doesn’t say there’s a good chance we’ll reap. God says that if we won’t get tired of doing the right thing, we will reap in due season.