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… to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness… Isaiah 61:3 The Scripture says to put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. A garment is like a coat. Before you can put on a coat of praise, you have to take off a coat of heaviness. Sometimes we wonder why we don’t have any joy, why we’re not passionate. We’re wearing the wrong coat. That coat of discouragement doesn’t look good, that coat of self-pity is out of style, and that coat of bitterness over who left you or what you didn’t get doesn’t fit you anymore. Now do your part and take off that coat of offense and put on a coat of praise. If you’re going to rise to the next level, you have to adjust your attitude. You can’t have a defeated mentality and live a victorious life.

But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. John 11:22 In John 11 we read - Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that their brother, Lazarus, was very sick. They thought He would come immediately and heal Lazarus. But days passed, and Lazarus died. When Jesus showed up, Martha was upset. She said, “Jesus, if You had been here sooner, my brother would not have died.” Martha could have walked away in anger and bitterness, which would be the end of the story. But she added, “I know even now God will give You whatever You ask.” She was saying, “It seems impossible, but I know You have the final say.” They went to the tomb, the place where Martha stopped believing, and rolled away the stone, and Jesus gave them a resurrection. Start believing again right where you gave up. Get your passion back. It may have been dead, but that wasn’t the final word. God has the final say—freedom, wholeness, abundance, victory.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way to escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 There are times when we feel overwhelmed by a loss, by a sickness, or by being treated unfairly by someone, and we say, “I can’t take the stress, the worry, the demands. It’s too much to handle.” But God wouldn’t be a just God if He didn’t design you with exactly what you need. Paul says that God will never let you face more pressure than you can handle. He will make a way of escape so you can bear it. Now you can choose in your mind to give up and think, “I can’t do this,” or you can choose to “not faint in your mind” (Hebrews 12:3). Your inner design is strong enough, now get your mind strong enough. Quit telling yourself, “It’s too big. It’s been this way too long. I can’t take it anymore.” You are well able. No weapon formed against you will prosper. That difficulty didn’t come to ...

Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get up … Proverbs 24:16 When life knocks you down, steps on you, takes your health, or squashes your dreams, you just have to get back up again. The way you win some battles is not by defeating them but by outlasting the opposition. You have comeback power. Some enemies are stubborn. You can’t be weak and give up because it’s not happening on your timetable. You have to outlast the trouble at work. We all want God to deliver us from attacks, but if He’s not changing it, then it’s really simple—you have to keep getting back up and outlast the attacks. Sometimes we think God has forgotten about us. We’ve seen Him turn situations around in the past, but this problem won’t seem to go away. You have to have a holy determination and say, “Staying down is not an option. I’m going to outlast this sickness this injustice, these critics.” The victory will come through outlasting it.

The son started his speech: “Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.” But the father wasn’t listening. Luke 15: 21-22 In Luke 15, in the story of prodigal son, when the son returned home after having wasted his father’s inheritance on wild living and partying, he passionately started pouring out his genuine remorse, but his father wasn’t listening. He was calling his staff to kill the best calf for a party, declaring, “My son was lost and now he’s found!” Are you doing what this son did, telling your Father everything you’ve done wrong, how unworthy you are of His love? Can I tell you that God is not listening? You’re wasting your breath. The moment you asked God to forgive you, He forgave you and then He forgot your sins. You’re not worthy because of what you did or didn’t do. You’re worthy only because of what Jesus did for you on the cross.

Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act ! Keep travelling steadily along his pathway and in due season he will honour you with every blessing… Psalm 37:34 Most of us don’t like times of waiting. We’re interested in the destination, but God is interested in the journey. When we understand that He’s working in us along the way, waiting and patience become a part of the process. When you stay faithful in the waiting times, when you don’t get impatient and complain because it’s taking so long, when you don’t get upset because the door closed, when you’re traveling steadily along God’s pathway and honoring Him, He will give you every blessing. You won’t have to make it happen in your own strength, and you won’t have to manipulate people or try to force the door to open. Don’t fight the wait time. You’re not falling behind. God has already lined up the blessings He’s going to give you. He’s already put your name on things bigger and better than you’ve imagined. Now keep trav...

Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Proverbs 3:5-6 We all have situations that we don’t see how they’re going to work out. We do our best to find a solution, but there are some things God doesn’t want us to know. He has the solution, but if He showed you right now, it wouldn’t take any faith. If you could see the provision, the healing, or the favor that He is going to bring, it would be easy to believe. The test comes when we don’t have the answers. Thoughts tell us, “How are you going to make it after you retire? What if your health doesn’t improve?” Sometimes there is no logical solution. The more we try to reason it out, the more discouraged we get. This is what faith is all about. You don’t have to come up with a plan. You have to be comfortable not knowing. God has you in the palms of His hands. He wil...

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11 Sometimes religion tells us that God puts sicknesses on us to teach us something. Granted, you may learn something while you’re sick, but God doesn’t send sicknesses, afflictions, or addictions to teach you. Jesus said that if earthly fathers give their children good things, “how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask.” What loving father would ever say, “I put this sickness on my child to teach them a lesson”? As long as you think sickness comes from God, you’re not going to have faith to get rid of it. You need to see every sickness, every illness, and every addiction as the work of the enemy. It’s not yours. It doesn’t belong to you. Your body is a temple of the Most High God. The Scripture says, “Resist the enemy, and he will flee from you.” You have to resist it. Don’t ...

So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. Genesis 16:2 In Genesis 15, God told Abraham that He was going to give him and Sarah a son. The problem was that they were already too old to have children in the natural. Years went by, and finally Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her maid. She watered down the promise and brought it down to the level she thought was possible, and Abraham went along with it. Instead of releasing their faith, believing for the extraordinary, they settled for what they thought was good enough. But the baby Ishmael was not the promised child. Too many times we take what God put in our heart, and instead of coming up to His level and believing for the impossible, we bring it down to what makes sense to us. Get ready for the fullness of what God said.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. Genesis 28:3 Sometimes people will try to convince you that you’re not supposed to be rich and prosperous. However, God wants you to have abundance so you can be a blessing to others. You have so much joy that you bring joy wherever you go. You have so many resources that you can help those around you. You’re going to overflow with creativity, with talent, with ideas. Overflow with great people in your life. Overflow with influence, with respect, with promotion. You may not have seen this yet, but God is about to do a new thing for you.

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. John 20:27 After Jesus rose from the dead, Thomas initially doubted that it was true, but soon believed through Jesus meeting with him. What’s interesting is that Thomas doubted that one time, but he’s been labeled “Doubting Thomas.” You would think he had doubted and questioned his faith for his whole life, but this had been just a few days of his life. It’s easy to let one failure define who you are. If Thomas would have worn that label, he would never have fulfilled his destiny. Yet the Thomas took the gospel to India and made an incredible impact with his life. Are you wearing negative labels from the past? God’s mercies are new every morning. Receive that mercy and move on. Life is too short for you to let what happened in the past keep you from the great things God has in your future.

Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze. Acts 12:10 In Acts 12, King Herod had the apostle James killed and then put Peter in prison. Chained between two guards in the deepest part of the prison, Peter was to be brought to trial the following day. Meanwhile the church was praying for him through the night. Herod did everything he could to keep Peter in, but he didn’t realize that he couldn’t keep God out. In the middle of the night, an angel came and led Peter past guard after guard and through the final iron gate to freedom from what would have been the end of Peter. Similar to Peter, if you are facing any closed door in your life, it’s not going to be anything you do. Stay in peace. You and God are a majority.

As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked. 2 Kings 6:18 The king of Aram was so angry with the prophet Elisha that he sent an army to capture him. Elisha was only one man against an army, but he knew how to pray bold prayers. He had seen God open blind eyes, and now he prayed for the reverse. Not only were the soldiers struck blind, but Elisha led them into Samaria where the king of Israel captured them before their eyes were reopened. When you know that God is with you, you’ll see God do amazing things. He can protect you, guide you, and make things happen that you could never make happen. Just as with Elisha, you are so powerful and full of favor that even when the enemy does his best to defeat you, his best will never be enough. You cannot be defeated because you have the favor of God.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. Genesis 50:20 Joseph went through thirteen years of betrayal, slavery, false accusations, and imprisonment. He had many reasons to become bitter, but you never read that Joseph had a bad attitude. He understood the principle that everything he was experiencing was serving God’s plan, including the bad breaks and unfair things. After Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was made prime minister of Egypt, he even declared that the very harm his brothers meant for him was instrumental and necessary to getting him to the throne and his destiny of saving their lives. Are you upset about something that’s actually serving His plan? God will use people who are against you to move you into your purpose. God uses the bad breaks, the delays, the setbacks, and the injustices to move you into your destiny. The things you don’t like, and the things that are takin...

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of (the manna) until morning.” However, some of them…kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. Exodus 16: 19-20 When the Israelites were in the desert headed toward the Promised Land, God gave them a fresh supply of manna every morning. It only lasted for one day, but some didn’t listen and tried to hold on to the old manna, and it spoiled. When you hold on to old manna—friends who were right for a season, a job that you’re afraid to step away from—it spoils. It won’t feed you. You won’t grow. Maybe you’ve enjoyed a friendship for a time, but at some point, you realize you’ve outgrown the relationship. Or what used to challenge you about your career doesn’t challenge you anymore. You feel God telling you to stretch, to get out of your comfort zone, but you’re afraid. You wonder why you’re not passionate, why you’re not growing. It’s because that manna is old; it’s not feeding you. God has new b...

The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink ?” John 4:9 In John 4, Jesus surprised a Samaritan woman at a well when He offered to give her “living water,” meaning eternal life. Not only did Jewish men refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans, let alone a Samaritan woman, but this woman had a very bad reputation. Jesus had chosen to wait at the well for a woman who had been written off for her moral failures. He didn’t judge her or find fault. He spoke life into her. He lifted her. He valued her. She was the first person whom Jesus ever told He was the Messiah, and through her many Samaritans believed in Him. God has waited on all of us. Now He’s asking, “Will you wait on someone for Me? Will you wait on that friend who’s making bad choices? Will you call them, encourage them, let them know that you care? Will you wait on that neighbour wh...

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24 In Mark 11, Jesus was hungry and walked over to a fig tree only to discover that it was barren. After He said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again,” there was no evidence that what He said had happened. But the next morning “the disciples saw the fig tree had withered from the roots.” When Jesus spoke to the tree, the source was cut off in the roots. It had still looked alive, but it was just a matter of time before the outside caught up with the inside. When you pray, Jesus says you have to believe that God put the miracle in motion. You can’t wait for the evidence, and then you’ll start believing; you have to believe first. It’s just a matter of time, and you’ll see what God promised.

Look, he answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Daniel 3:25 When the three Hebrew teenagers were thrown into the fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol, they were bound with cords. They should have been killed instantly, but when the king gazed into the furnace, he saw four unbound men, and one who looked like the Son of God. Your hands may be tied today—you’ve worked, prayed, believed, and done the right thing, but it seems like your dream is never going to work out. The good news is that God’s hands are not tied. He’s not limited by what’s limiting you. I believe that what’s restricted you in the past has lost its grip. It’s a new day. The fourth man has shown up. Like the Hebrew teenagers, you’re coming out, not bound. Your hands are not tied anymore. God is releasing you into new levels of your destiny.

…for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. 1 Corinthians 16:9 When you have a big future, the enemy is not going to roll out the red carpet and let you fulfil it. Paul recognized that a wide door of opportunity had opened for him, but he had many adversaries because of the favour that was on his life. The enemy recognized that Paul was a history maker, which is why he came against Paul so strongly. Many of the challenges you’ve faced—the things that didn’t seem fair, the obstacles that came out from nowhere, the people who turned on you—are because there are seeds of greatness in you. You may not see it yet, but the enemy sees it. Have a new perspective. Those difficulties are a sign that something amazing is in your future. There’s something in you that the enemy doesn’t want you to have. There’s an assignment God has for you that the enemy is trying to stop—an anointing, an empowerment, a favour that he...

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 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, or try to beat it down. He just came through it. God was showing us that closed doors can’t keep us from what He has for us. 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 you. God is going to walk right through it. He’s not going to let you miss your destiny.